


Gordon is in Control, Right?

by themarginalartist



Series: Gordon is AI too [1]
Category: HLVRAI-Fandom, Half-Life, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Body horror tw, Gordon is an AI too!, HLVRAI, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self Aware - Freeform, Player is an active role of the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themarginalartist/pseuds/themarginalartist
Summary: An AU based on the idea that Gordon is also an AI and can hear the Player and what that entails for the both of them...
Series: Gordon is AI too [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913683
Comments: 89
Kudos: 221





	1. Chapter 1

Gordon’s day was going... Not so great if he was being frank. Being accosted by that guard for not having his ‘passport’ which was some kind of bullshit or something, had to be, no way Black Mesa actually required passports overnight. Plus whatever the Black Mesa Sweet Voice **TM** baloney was, probably the guard had messed with something he wasn’t supposed to. On top of that he was running late because of that encounter and that was mentioned by his co-workers, so much fun, especially when that guard showed up in the fucking chamber where he was absolutely not supposed to be and not in a HEV suite for the love of Science! Then there was the Resonance Cascade... Which Gordon was very much going on the record if/when he got out of this damned building as not his fault. 

And then there was the voice in his head. 

At first he thought it was nothing, or possibly stress because he was supposed to be doing a very important  _ do-not-fuck-it-up-experiment-that-is-in-no-way-his-fault-for-getting-fucked-up-thank-you-very-much _ that day. But now he’s wondering if he’s going crazy. It had started as a comment about the guard being weird, then something about how funny Tommy and Dr. Coomer were, and the voice had voiced concerns about the guard in the test chamber too. But now waking up after the Resonance Cascade

_ ‘That was a lotta flashing lights. I don’t remember a seizure warning geez.’  _

Gordon, while in agreement that it had been very bright, not to mention super dangerous, decided he did not currently like the extra voice in his head (He’s probably not losing it right? Or that’s what a person losing it would try to assure themselves with...) nor had any clue why it mentioned a seizure warning. He also decided that the most logical thing to do would be to ignore it. 

_ ‘Alright time to get out of this place, see if some of those scientists survived.’ _

Mentally he agreed with the voice but was still trying to ignore it. Gordon picked his way through the rubble, eventually picking his way out of the chamber and back into the lab. 

“Hey! Are you that MOTHERFUCKER that FUCKED up this whole experiment?” A scientist called out. Gordon’s mind was suddenly filled with the sound of the voice laughing. The combo of the question and laughing lighting a fire in him.

“Me!? That was NOT my fault!” Gordon growls. 

_‘It sort of was, we pushed the sample in!’_ The voice comments unhelpfully. 

“No you definitely fucked that up!” The scientist comments as he stands up. 

“I did not! We don’t have time for this. Come on we have to get out of here. What’s your name?” Gordon shakes his head. 

“Bubby.” The scientist snips. 

_ ‘ BUBBY _ _?!’_ The voice shouts before cackling. Gordon can’t help the dumbfounded stare at the older scientist. 

“Seriously? Bubby?” 

“It’s my name, mock me and you’ll find out how much pain I can cause you.” Bubby stares at him, or at least Gordon guesses he’s being stared at because he can’t see eyes through the thick glass. 

“Right. Okay, let’s just get moving...” Gordon takes a breath and continues forward, trying to tune out the chuckles from the voice. 

“What you just gonna forget your uhhh bestest bro? Huh Feetman?” 

Gordon grinds to a halt, “Ugh that’s not my name, and how the hell did you survive that?” Gordon pinches the bridge of his nose. The voice makes a confused sound as it slowly halts it’s laughter. 

“What not even a welcome back hug for Benrey? Gordo can’t do that?” Benrey has a grin on his face as Gordon debates punching him. 

“No he can’t. Come on, let’s see if there’s other survivors...” Gordon sighs. 

Meeting up with Dr. Coomer and Tommy made the voice very happy. They seemed to really like Tommy and they find Dr. Coomer endearing even though there were comments about wanting to be done with the tutorial and confusion on PlayCoins **TM** . Gordon voicing the confusion for the voice and himself which got no concrete answer from Dr. Coomer. 

The first weird thing was when they got attacked by the headcrab. Or well it would be the first weird thing if Tommy hadn’t said ‘I drink soda for lunch’.

The voice had taken over... sort of. Gordon had shouted but while he had yelled about something his body felt like it was on automatic. The voice saying various cuss words and mentioning hating jump scares while his body slammed the crowbar down on the thing. 

It was like disassociating. And Gordon didn’t want to do that again, even if it had been very helpful in the moment. Only because he controlled his body, right?

“Let’s go dumbass!” Bubby shouts at Gordon from up ahead. 

“Coming!” Gordon calls back with a growl. 

_‘Most impatient NPC ever geez.’_ The voice comments. _‘He needs a chill pill and a half.’_

“You need a chill pill and a half.” Gordon comments as he catches up and passes Bubby, making the scientist sputter and insult him again, but Gordon focused on the gasp of laughter in his mind, mentally wishing he could high five them for the excellent comment. 

Wait no Gordon, bad, voice bad, don’t listen to voice. 

“Mister Freeman! Looks like there’s a safe room here!” Tommy shouts from inside a doorway. 

Gordon feels like the world pauses for a moment, but before he can ask anyone else if they felt that the voice pipes up. _‘It’s late... Should probably hit the hay, have stupid work stuff tomorrow but after dinner more of this for sure.’_ The voice tells itself as Gordon follows the rest of the team into the room. 

“Yeah a... A rest would be good.” Gordon nods. 

Everyone nods after they secure the door and Benrey mumbles something about keeping watch before the world goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

When Gordon wakes up from the black it feels like barely any time has passed and that he’s missed hours of _something_. He fiddles with his glasses and looks over at the rag tag team he now has. Benrey is kicking his feet out while sitting on a random crate in the room, eyes quickly moving away from staring a hole in Gordon’s chest. Tommy looks to be fiddling with a rather well loved Rubik’s cube that he puts back in his pocket when he sees Gordon’s awake, the voice commenting that Tommy is definitely the type to play with one like them. He then hears Dr. Coomer and Bubby talking about the experiment, Bubby adamantly grousing that the reason why experiment failed like that was Gordon’s fault while Dr. Coomer defends that it’s no one’s fault. 

_‘Aww, Dr. Coomer is so nice.’_ Stupid voice he’s ignoring because it’s stupid is still here.

“Mister Freeman! You uh... f-feeling okay? You were out like a light for a little while there.” Tommy asks, checking Gordon over while he wrings his hands. 

“Huh? Yeah feeling peachy… How’re you holding up?” Gordon asks as he adjusts his glasses again. 

Before Tommy answers there’s another feeling of the world and his body just pausing, much longer than the first time it had happened. This time though there’s not actually silence as he can hear the voice faintly muttering. _‘Dammit I thought I’d adjusted this stupid thing right the first time.’_ There’s the sound of some sort of plastic moving against other plastic and some shuffling before everything resumes. _‘There we go, much better.’_

“A little nervous Mister Freeman… That weird creature and the explosions and stuff… I really wanna get home.” Tommy immediately jumps in when the world moves again, rubs the back of his head as he speaks.

“Y-yeah me too. But uh, it’ll probably be okay, we just have to get to the surface which I’m sure won’t take too long.” Gordon nods stiffly as he also tries to assure Tommy, the pause made him feel weird as he reoriented himself, out of the corner of his eye he catches Benrey staring at him before he hops off the crate and comes over. 

“So... got your passport yet?” Benrey asks with a grin Gordon desperately wants to slap off. 

“No. Obviously. Because we haven’t moved yet! Nothing has changed! And why the hell do you need a passport so bad? Are you trying to see a company ID?” Gordon grinds his teeth. 

_‘There is literally not a show ID or passport button, I don’t know what you want from me!’_ The voice grouses too. Gordon at least feels better that the voice is also annoyed with the guards' antics but finds it really weird how it was speaking like they were the one that was directly dealing with all of this. The word button though made him shiver internally. 

“No, your passport.” Benrey says before shrugging. “Can’t uh... Can’t have someone wandering around down here without one, too cringe.” 

“Hello, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer says from his right side. 

_‘Crin- ACK! How’d he get over here so fast?! Don’t sneak up like that Dr. Coomer.’_ The voice begins to question Benrey’s word choice before the interruption of Dr. Coomer.

“Please don’t sneak up on me like that Dr. Coomer” Gordon groans, he hadn’t been startled by Dr. Coomer since he’d seen him move over but apparently the voice hadn’t which was odd, he figured it would be better to at least say something so that the voice didn’t have something to constantly complain about.

“Sorry, Gordon! But Professor Bubby would like to continue on!” Dr. Coomer smiles. 

“It’s Doctor Bubby!” The other older man shouts in anger from the door. 

“Of course Professor Bubby.” Coomer nods, making Bubby growl out some choice words. 

_‘Someone woke up on the wrong side of the cement floor.’_ Gordon can’t help himself from snorting this time at the commentary, he quickly covers it with a cough as Bubby stares daggers at him. 

“Something funny?” Bubby sneers. 

“No, no, just a cough. Let’s get going.” Gordon placates him, which luckily does the trick. Benrey gets too close to Gordon making him shove the grinning guard away a bit as the group finally starts moving down the hallways again. 

Dammit Gordon stop listening to the voice! Gotta ignore it, doesn’t matter, it’s not funny. Wrong side of the cement floor… NO _NOT_ FUNNY. 

“This place is a fucking maze and I was born here!” Bubby complains from up ahead. 

**“Born here?! They do test tube babies here?!”** Gordon and the voice say at the exact same time, Gordon’s hand comes up to his head as if in disbelief but really it was to steady himself from the sudden throbbing of his head from a headache.

“Now, Gordon. Black Mesa is old! Older than all of us.” Dr. Coomer smiles. 

**“That’s not comforting Dr. Coomer, nor does it answer the question.”** Gordon and the voice say at the same time again, Gordon’s head throbbing harder as he shakes it. 

“Sorry, Gordon! But it is the truth! Science is important after all!” Dr. Coomer says happily before turning around to catch up to Bubby. 

‘That’s not science Dr. Coomer! That’s messed up!’ The voice says before it falls quiet. Gordon agrees a bit but also knows Black Mesa is a really messed up place. Things seemed to go fairly smoothly after that, and blissfully quiet too, up until they got to the elevator. 

The voice had stayed quiet even through Tommy’s reading of Benrey’s Black Mesa Sweet Voice **TM** . Hearing the screams of the scientists trapped as it fell to their speedy deaths got to Gordon, and then when the others started prodding him about having pressed the button he had no way of knowing would do that the voice spoke up again in time with him, **“I didn’t know that would happen! I swear!”** They growl in tandem, the headache that had died down comes back quickly making Gordon lean against the wall. 

“They… They didn’t deserve that, but it happened and we can’t do anything about it. Now please… Let’s just go.” Gordon says quietly. Tommy puts a hand on his shoulder which makes him give the other man a tired smile of appreciation back and a pat on the back before they pry open the elevator doors and start climbing the ladder. 

Running into another guard at least made Gordon happy because that way he might get Benrey off his back about the passport and a return to some amount of normalcy, but with another creature attack and his body getting taken over again by the voice he quickly tosses any hope of normal out of his head. Though he did snap about being shot at when he was already fighting with a crowbar, no one owning up to anything which made him get a bit more angry. 

The scientist that had the head crab on him sent shivers up his spine, Gordon’s nerves already pretty frayed at this point just stared at it for a long moment. 

_“We can get it off him right? We can save him?”_ The voice asked with Gordon’s voice.

“The best thing we can do Gordon is put him out of his misery!” Dr. Coomer says a little too cheerfully making Gordon want to recoil, but instead his body moved forward to get a closer look.

_“Seriously? We have to be able to save him…”_ The voice says with both a curious and upset tone, Dr. Coomer shakes his head solemnly. Gordon’s body prods the head crab with the crowbar he’d picked up before the voice sighs. _“Alright…”_ With a slam the head crab is knocked off the scientist, blood oozing down the side of their head. _“…Let’s move…”_ The voice says with his quietly before they continue forward, walking on finally breaking Gordon’s stare at the body. 

He regains control a while later when they find some vending machines. Which was unfortunate given the sudden rabid attack on the soda cans that had fallen out of them and a sickening amount of slurping noises. And then there’s another world pause. 

  
_‘That is the worst noise in the universe. Why would anyone put that in! It’s so fucking loud!’_ The voice complains somewhat distantly after noises of something being moved around. _‘Oh shit! I need to shut down.’_ There’s the sounds of shuffling again and some kind of dinging noise. _‘Alright save complete… Hopefully it does not pick up on that noise again.’_ Is the last thing Gordon hears before the world goes black again. 


	3. Chapter 3

Gordon wakes up in the black. 

It’s dark and lonely and feels like he’s floating and oh god he’s hyperventilating fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

It takes a moment for him to notice it, but he slowly starts paying more and more attention to the voice, it seems to come from all around him, and it’s... Singing?

_ ‘Somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me / I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed~’  _

As the voice continues Gordon has to admit that they aren’t the worst singer, especially as his breathing gets more and more under control, eventually calming as he sits or well floats in whatever void he’s in. 

There’s the distant sound of something that sounds like another voice which Gordon really hopes it is not. He really can’t handle another one to deal with. 

_ ‘You call?’ _ His voice- (No bad Gordon, don’t separate and be possessive, not yours and you should be ignoring it!) -The first voice calls back, quickly followed by the distant voice. 

_ ‘Jay I did dishes last night man!’ _

The sound of footsteps passes him and Gordon looks around to find the voice but he gets nothing. He can sort of hear the two voices talk about something before the footsteps come back and another failure to locate anyone or anything happens. 

‘ _ Ugh sometimes I swear Jay has amnesia but only for dish duty which is why I write it down.’ There’s a tired sigh. ‘And this stupid code is not working ughhhhhhhh.’  _ Something thumps against a wooden surface, Gordon theorizing it was probably a head hitting a desk.  _ ‘Maybe I should take a break and continue early? No. Focus Mel, bad Mel, must get work done. Game later.’ _

That’s the last Gordon hears the voice say in the void as the steady tapping of keyboard keys slowly lulls him to sleep. 

* * *

Gordon becomes aware again when the horrible slurping noise starts up again, the voice- _Mel_ -voicing their disgust immediately that the sound was back. Gordon also voiced this disgust himself, “For the love of Science you guys!” Gordon groans.

“Sorry, Gordon. I was thirsty!" Dr. Coomer says cheerfully which makes a long suffering sigh come from both Gordon and Mel as Gordon shakes his head. 

“Is there at least some for me?” He asks. 

“Nope!” Bubby grins before heading out of the room and running off.

“Professor Bubby wait up!” Dr. Coomer calls out while chasing after him.

“IT’S DOCTOR.” Bubby practically screeches. 

Gordon stares at the doorway beginning to trudge slowly out before Dr. Coomer and Bubby’s cries of surprise make him chase after them. Quickly swinging and taking out the head crabs that were trying to attach themselves to the two scientists. Gordon pants as he looks to the two older scientists to check them over, Tommy and Benrey quickly coming up to them on the defense. 

‘ _ …I didn’t- How did… What?’ _ Mel asks quietly. That’s when Gordon realizes that the weird feeling of disassociation didn’t happen this time, that he was the one who did that. Both awesome and terrifying! But why was Mel confused by that? 

“Are you two alright?” Gordon asks after he feels calm enough. 

“Quite alright after that brilliant show Gordon!” Dr. Coomer praises with a pat on Gordon’s shoulder. 

“I had it under control.” Bubby sneers dismissively, Gordon just glares at him before taking the lead again. Mel stays silent as they get into the locker room which Gordon is thankful for since that means he might find something to satisfy Benrey’s desperate need for a passport. He makes a bee-line for his locker, wrenching open the door and shuffling around the closet of a locker to find anything useful. 

_ ‘What is going on with the game? I know I didn’t press anything this time for real…’ _ Mel mumbles, the sound of something clicking quietly enters Gordon’s mind before the world goes on pause. Gordon hates the pause, especially since his hand is around something that he could maybe use to deal with Benrey. 

Seriously Mel could you pick a better time? 

_ ‘Come on Mel, it’s probably a programming error or something, maybe was supposed to be a cutscene but didn’t do it right… Doesn’t mean the game is broken.’ _ Mel says a little distantly after some shuffling. Gordon would frown if the world wasn’t paused.

What does Mel mean by  **_game_ ** ? Gordon is both curious but also frightened of what it could mean for him. What exactly  **_is_ ** Mel?

Gordon just wishes he could speak to them. 

Eventually the world unpauses and Gordon does his best not to react to it, grabbing the frame gently and turning around to find Benrey was leaning over him, a frown on his face quickly being replaced by a mask of indifference. Realizing Benrey’s hand was on Gordon’s shoulder before he slaps it off before glaring at him. 

“Does this at all count for a ‘Passport’?” Gordon asks as he shoves the frame in Benrey’s direction, it was a picture of one of his first teams at Black Mesa, before he got a raise and a new position. 

“Uh… Nice try Gordo.” Benrey gives a smirk, “Not a passport.” 

“I. Don’t. Have. A. Passport.” Gordon jabs his finger into Benrey’s chest before snatching the photo away and putting it back. 

“Whatever. Still have to follow you. Just wanted to go home, play PS3. Instead gotta follow your cringe ass.” Benrey turns on his heels and starts chatting with Tommy instead. Gordon and Mel both groan which makes Gordon’s head hurt slightly before making sure that the picture and some of his other things in the locker are carefully tucked into the protected pack on his HEV suit, especially the photo of his son, Joshua, which Mel makes a small comment about him being a cute kid before they move on. 

Everything continues on as smoothly as it can. Which is to say that Gordon has to herd the cats that are Dr. Coomer, Bubby, Tommy, and Benrey. Especially since for whatever reason Benrey has decided to be extra weird now, more Black Mesa Sweet Voice  **TM** , more odd comments about playing PS3 and that things are cringe or not cringe. 

But Mel doesn’t say anything. 

And Gordon doesn’t know if that’s better or worse. Not hearing Mel’s voice makes his nerves worse and worse as they keep moving through the halls. Not that he needs Mel! He proved that! But also… Mel was kinda funny? And- No bad Gordon. 

He didn’t need Mel.

Mel wasn’t supposed to be in his head.

He needs to make sure he can get home to Joshua. 

And yet even with the dissociation kicking in as they battle against the creatures they come up against Gordon is mere moments away from his frayed nerves leading to a panic attack as he desperately wants- no  _ needs _ \- to hear Mel say  _ something _ if only to stop his already fast breath from getting quicker.

When they start to clear an area of head crabs, Benrey insisting on doing nothing but sit at the edge of the pool of water in the room, Mel finally speaks up, _‘Come on Benrey please, you’re a guard, stop guarding the water and fucking help out a little! Tommy is more helpful than you!’_ They complain. And Gordon can’t help the wave of relief that runs through him. 

“Benrey come on, get off your ass and help.” Gordon snaps at the guard.

“Chill dude, just chill at the water man.” Benrey shrugs. 

“No! I won’t chill! We need to make sure we’re safe!” Gordon stomps toward the guard.

_ ‘Wow Gordon got angry... Chill man, it’s just some head crabs. And Tommy got the rest it seems, we’re safe for now.’ _ Mel says quietly, Gordon stops in his tracks on hearing something directed at him, sort of, well it was just about him, but it was enough to halt him and make him just stare at Benrey with a frown. Benrey stares back at him, tilting his head slightly, the barest tell of a frown on his face under his apathetic mask.

“You uhhhh… You good Feetman?” Benrey asks.

“…Fine… Let’s… Let’s take a break.” Gordon says after a deep breath. 

  
_ ‘Yeah… a rest, probably would be best… Weekend is one more day away.’  _ Mel says as the Science team groups up and finds a spot for themselves to rest, the world eventually going black as Gordon closes his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

When Gordon wakes up he find Benrey pacing in front of him, grumbling something under his breath, blue to golden yellow orbs escaping his lips as he keeps moving. Gordon looks to Tommy who’s woken up and motioning with his head to see if Tommy knows what’s up. 

Tommy comes over next to Gordon and watches for a moment before whispering to him, “Blue to golden bell means ‘What the ever-loving hell’. Did you two get in another argument mister Freeman?” Tommy asks with a pout. “Benrey’s a real nice guy mister Freeman, I know you don’t have a passport but Benrey’s just trying to be funny... Take away from the stress you know?”

_ ‘See Gordon now Tommy is upset that you blew up.’ _ Mel says in exaggerated disappointment, but also there’s a bit of tiredness in their voice.  _ ‘But the last argument didn’t go very far... hmm... Maybe we should talk to him?’ _ They muse. 

“...I’ll go- I’ll go talk with him.” Gordon sighs and stands up from the floor. He watches Benrey for a few moments, trying to see if Benrey will come over to him, but Benrey just keeps pacing making Gordon sigh again. He steps forward and tries to get in front of Benrey to at least make him stop moving. 

It ends up with Benrey walking into him and looking around confused. “Uhhh... What’s going on man? We moving? Or you wanna play punch out? Or play virtua fighter? Huh what-“

“Benrey for the love of Science shut up a sec.” Gordon grimaces, taking a step back so he’s not as close to Benrey. “I wanted to ask what was up, you were pacing when I got up.” Gordon looks Benrey over. 

“You and your love of Science, what a cringe phrase bro. Totally not poggers. Feetman is a noob-“ Gordon puts his hand up to Benrey’s face. 

“Please, could you answer the question? Tommy wants to make sure you’re okay.” Gordon growls before yanking his hand back in disgust. “What the  _ FUCK _ ! Why would you  _ lick _ my hand! We’ve been fighting weird aliens dude!” Gordon shakes out his hand as he glares at Benrey. 

_ ‘Oh that’s just nasty.’ _ Mel sounds just as disgusted as Gordon. 

“Gotta have my gamer juice.” Benrey grins a little too sharply. “Saturday’s are best for getting on my PS3. Don’t be so cringe Feetman.” Benrey shrugs before walking away from Gordon to chat with Tommy. 

“What the fuck.” Gordon frowns. Something makes the gears in his head turn as he tries to decipher Benrey’s statements, Benrey said it was Saturday but it was Wednesday, the experiment had been scheduled for the middle of the week, that didn’t add up. 

_ ‘...Do the AI have access to the computer’s clock? That’s really extra...’ _ Mel mumbles just as Gordon adjusts his glasses, but this time he hears the shuffling of something plastic as he does so. Another thing to grind on in the back of his head while he focuses on not dying. Gordon is really not liking his new hypothesis on all of this...

When Gordon turns around he finds the rest sitting in a circle (Benrey sitting on a barrel but whatever, Gordon’s done dealing directly with the hand licker at the moment) and chatting. Feeling a little left out Gordon comes over and sits down. The four look at him, Bubby’s eyebrow raised up as he sneers, Dr. Coomer smiling happily that he’s seated between Bubby and Gordon, Tommy fiddling with his Rubik’s cube again, and Benrey sticks his tongue out and makes licking motions which Gordon pointedly looks away from. 

“So uh... What is our next step here?” Gordon asks since no one filled the silence yet. 

“Oh so now you want our input hmm?” Bubby scowls. 

“Now, now Prof-“

“ _ Doctor _ .”

“-essor Bubby, this is a stressful situation for us all! This is the first real lull of our journey out of Black Mesa!” 

“Doesn’t matter, he should have spoken with us earlier.” Bubby crosses his arms and glares at Gordon. 

“Look, I don’t really have much more than don’t die right now. Does anyone have a-“ Gordon is interrupted by a coo from a pigeon that walked up to him. 

**“What the hell?”**

“Oh dear, it seems some of the lab animals have escaped Gordon.” Dr. Coomer shakes his head. 

**“Better than them staying trapped I guess.”** Gordon tries to ignore the increasing number of pigeon coos and Benrey doing whatever weird thing he’s doing before he jolts up as the pigeon next to him is set on fire.  **“What the fuck! Guys what the hell is going on?!”**

“Don’t be such a baby.” Bubby sneers at him. “It’s free food.”

**“That doesn’t explain the fire!”** Gordon groans from the migraine and Bubby mocking him instead of explaining. “Ugh that reeks! Nobody should eat that. Please. Let’s just go find another vending machine.” Gordon rubs his not licked hand across his face as his head starts pounding. 

_ ‘Hey uh- you good? Cause you’re like way uncool loud. Not poggers.’ _ Another voice in the distance, or what would be distant if they were in the same physical space asks. The world goes on pause and Gordon really wants to express how much he hates that. 

There’s some shuffling before Mel speaks up,  _ ‘Oh sorry Jay. Didn’t mean to be so loud. And oh my god shut up, go listen to angry video game nerd or something.’ _ Mel says apologetically, annoyed, and with laughter held back.  _ ‘And you have dish duty tonight dude. I did it last night.’ _

_ ‘Wha- noooooo, I gotta play PS3 tonight, gotta get my epic gamer score to top poggers!’ _ Jay whines, making Mel laugh. 

_ ‘Oh god Benrey sounds just like you.’ _ That Gordon agrees to, Jay sounds wayyyy too much like Benrey. 

_ ‘Who’s Benrey? Someone new? Are you trying to replace me?’ _ Jay asks in mock offense. There’s a laugh as they get shoved away from Mel. 

_ ‘I don’t think there’s anyone capable of replacing you. You’re way too weird.’ _ Mel snorts.  _ ‘And he’s a NPC in the game. A security guard, they keep bothering me about a passport, and says cringe and poggers wayyyy too much.’ _

Gordon wants the world to not be paused now Mel please? Any time would be great. And he wants Aspirin please. And to go home… See Joshua, quit Black Mesa. Or well, take a temporary leave for a while, the money has been pretty good.

_ ‘Oh weird. I don’t remember that... It was a long time ago that I played though.’ _ Jay says.  _ ‘Well think with portals or whatever.’ _

_ ‘Jay no, completely wrong franchise, Black Mesa is filthy, unlike Aperture’s pristine white.’ _ Mel snorts. Gordon is now very confused and his migraine is only getting worse and-

...Benrey wasn’t that close to him before right? When did Benrey put a hand on his shoulder?

_ ‘Alright, alright, whatever.’ _ Jay laughs and gets a bit more distant.  _ ‘Dinner is microwave pizza.’ _

_ ‘Dude nasty, come on, we’re gonna be going to Chuck E. Cheese for Thomas’s party in like 2 weeks, I refuse to eat frozen pizza until then.’ _ Mel whines.

_ ‘Then suffer.’ _ Jay says in a monotone.  _ ‘Or have peanut butter. Which is suffering.’ _

_ ‘Only to you and your peanut allergy.’ _ Mel says with a sing-song voice.  _ ‘I’ll take care of myself then.’ _

_ ‘Chill. Get the high score, be poggers!’ _ Jay laughs before shutting a door. 

_ ‘Jay I swear.’ _ Mel says with a laugh. There’s some shuffling and the world unpauses again. When Gordon looks to his side Benrey isn’t there, instead he’s sitting on the barrel with an apathetic look on his face. 

Did- did Gordon imagine Benrey being closer? No that can’t be right he saw Benrey next to him, touching his shoulder... Right?


	5. Chapter 5

Gordon ground his teeth together, trying to figure out how to get out of this ‘world pause’ this time, it’s definitely been longer than any of the previous ones before it. What the fuck Mel, however you’re doing this stop it. He didn’t know how much longer his sanity could hold out being frozen in the same position for so long. At least it gave him some time to think about what’s happened so far. 

In between attempts to wiggle his fingers or move other body parts he mulls on what’s transpired. And the best way to catalogue everything was to make a list of weird events he’s noticed. 

  1. There is a voice in his head, sometimes multiple, but mostly it’s Mel who seems to be directly watching what’s going on. 
  2. Mel seemed to think they were in control of Gordon’s body all of the time when really it was only some of the time. Particularly when Gordon was unsure of what to do or ‘tapped out’ when he was in shock from something. 
  3. When he and Mel spoke at the same time and said the same thing as each other he gets a wicked headache migraine thing and it sucks a lot. 
  4. Mel can put the world on ‘pause’ somehow.
  5. There’s a plastic noise whenever he adjusts his glasses. 
  6. Mel has mentioned things like A.I. or a game which made Gordon internally cringe. 
  7. Benrey may have moved while the world was paused one of the previous times? 



Gordon really didn’t like the implications of any of these facts. Particularly the idea that Benrey was somehow free to move around while he was frozen in place, the line of thought making him attempt to move again. Especially because Benrey had ended up behind him in their little line of people as they walked so now Gordon can’t confirm anything unless he manages to turn around or Benrey comes up to him. Neither of which happened in the moment. 

Cursing his luck and Mel pausing the world once again he sat (well stood in the walk motion that he’d been in) and stewed on his thoughts. He almost felt like a puppet sometimes, being piloted around by Mel. The weirdest of everything in his opinion was the world pauses. Mel sounded very normal… So probably not a god or something. He highly doubted an alien using him in some experiment would know English, even with advanced technology that would be very suspicious. Not to mention that if this was an experiment it sure was fucking complex as hell.

But going back to item 6 on the list… Maybe game meant video game? But games weren’t that advanced yet… It’s 2002… 

And also Gordon flat out hated the idea of it. 

But… It is the only thing that made logical sense given the noises and random mentions of technology… 

Gordon suddenly felt like he was electrocuted. He wished he could scream out, but his body of course didn’t obey that command or move in the slightest. He felt his consciousness slip from him, even if he couldn’t close his eyes. 

About ten minutes later he ‘woke up’. 

What was he thinking about? Something- Something to do with Mel? The- the thing they’d said… What had they said? 

Okay Gordon, what was the list, you have a list. 

  1. There is a voice in his head, sometimes multiple, but mostly it’s Mel who seems to be directly watching what’s going on. 
  2. Mel seemed to think they were in control of Gordon’s body all of the time when really it was only some of the time. Particularly when Gordon was unsure of what to do or ‘tapped out’ when he was in shock from something. 
  3. When he and Mel spoke at the same time and said the same thing as each other he gets a wicked headache migraine thing and it sucks a lot. 
  4. Mel can put the world on ‘pause’ somehow.
  5. There’s a plastic noise whenever he adjusts his glasses. 
  6. Benrey may have moved while the world was paused one of the previous times? 



None of those are about what Mel said. Gordon would have growled if the world wasn’t paused. What had he forgotten? 

_ ‘Alright, I’m going back to playing Half Life. Call out if you need something aight?’ _ Mel suddenly said somewhat distantly in whatever space they were in. 

_ ‘Viva Piñata those monsters!’ _ Jay laughed from somewhere nearby making Mel laugh. 

_ ‘I will. But I’ll beat them not join them.’ _ Mel says, still laughing. 

Gordon’s head was still stuck on ‘playing Half Life’ and again he felt like he was electrocuted, this time though he didn’t get reset which was at least a relief to Gordon. He thought he saw his fingers twitch on his right hand but he couldn’t be too sure with his mind being a little foggy and Mel unpausing the world finally. 

_ ‘Alright back on the road.’ _ Mel says to themself. 

“Just. Stop. Pausing.” Gordon finally groans out. 

“Mister Freeman?” Tommy raises an eyebrow. 

“Now Gordon, we’ve been moving at a good clip. We should be in a different part of the facility shortly!” Coomer chides. 

“That’s not-“ Gordon starts but is quickly cut off by Bubby. 

“Stop being a whiny bitch. Honestly why you’re the supposed leader is beyond me.” Bubby snaps at him and stomps ahead. 

Benrey finally passes Gordon giving him a strange look that Gordon is unable to identify. 

“Ugh it’s not like they’ll understand anyway...” Gordon grumbles. 

_ ‘Okay that was weird... Weren’t they talking about some other experiment while they were walking?’ _ Mel mumbles.  _ ‘Gordon’s really acting weird...’ _

“I’m not weird.” Gordon denies. 

_ ‘Okay what the hell is going on?’ _ Mel starts sounding agitated. Gordon debates going silent and back into the ’normal’ flow of things for a moment before quickly tossing it out the door. The rest of the team has moved up ahead anyway for the moment so it’s just him and Mel. 

“I can hear you.” Gordon says, not too loud though, but apparently the game decided he wasn’t supposed to say that as that horrible electrocution feeling passed through him. And this time he was able to shout in pain. 

Which he did loudly. 

Which of course brought everyone else back to him extremely quickly. 

His shout covered up the one from inside his head. 

Fuck his luck he thinks grimly before it feels like some of him slips away. What happened again?

The pain eventually dies down and he starts to catch the conversation that the others are having over his head. 

“-nothing is here.”

“-being a baby. Can’t be left alone for one fucking-“

“-Gordon? Can you hear me?” Dr. Coomer asks, seeing that Gordon’s looking more toward him now. 

“Huh? Yeah. What- why’re you here?” He asks a bit dazed. 

“We heard you shout like a little bitch and thought you were in danger. But you’re not and just wasting our time.” Bubby snaps. 

“Mister Freeman what happened?” Tommy asks with a frown. 

“I- I dunno let’s find somewhere safe to rest...” Gordon mumbles. 

The rest of them look between each other before nodding and helping Gordon to his feet. 

_ ‘Mel are you okay?’ _ A voice- no, Jay, that’s Jay. They sound concerned...

_ ‘I just got... Shocked or something...’ _ Mel says a bit breathless.  _ ‘I dunno though... But Jay... Gordon said some weird shit dude.’ _

_ ‘Mel you’ve played like most of the morning and it’s like 3PM. I think the game is getting to you...’ _

_ ‘What no I’m fine.’ _

_ ‘Mel you just said the damn thing shocked you or some shit. Come on, take the headset off.’ _ Jay says a bit more firmly. 

_ ‘...’  _ Mel sighs.  _ ‘Alright, give me a minute, there’s a healing spot coming up. Let me at least get the group there.’  _

_ ‘Fine. I’ll be waiting. Make some brownies or something.’ _ Jay agrees before leaving. 

“Mister Freeman? Mister Freeman?” Tommy waves his hand in front of Gordon’s face. 

“Huh? Sorry... Spaced out...” 

“Just- just take my hand Mister Freeman! I’ll make sure you’re safe.” Tommy gives him a small smile before leading him once their hands are linked. 

It’s only a few minutes before they find the spot to rest in. Gordon is quick to flop down on the thing that looks vaguely couch shaped and passes out quickly after.


	6. Chapter 6

Mel was out of it for the rest of the day. Quieter than normal, obviously thinking about whatever happened. Jay tried distracting Mel a number of times, but not even brownies and the promise of cleaning the dishes instead of Mel today didn’t snap them out of it. 

Jay frowned, “Mel come on, you’ve been staring at your mug like you’re trying to set it on fire.” 

“Huh? Oh sorry Jay...” Mel sighs running a hand down their face after pulling off their glasses, honey brown eyes looking still a little spaced out but closer to reality now. 

“What’s running through that head of yours?” Jay asks, sitting next to them. 

“Being shocked by a perfectly working less than two month old headset.” Mel answers, biting their lip, a small tell that it wasn’t the whole truth. 

Jay rolled their eyes and pulled their beanie off and readjusted it on top of a mess of black hair. “You know I know you know that’s not all of it. Not poggers.”

“Jay shut up.” Mel snorts but nods thinking on it, picking lightly at the orange nail polish on their index finger. “I just keep thinking about what happened prior to the shock... I know before we had lunch the NPCs were talking about experiments, but when I unpaused Gordon complained about it... And then responded back to me when I said he was being weird and then just before he said ‘I can hear you’, obviously he can since that happened but like what the hell am I going to do?” Mel says as they grip at the loose ponytail of hair behind their head. 

“Mel. One, calm down.” Jay says with a serious look. “You’re probably overthinking this. Just like the time you spiraled on whether or not you should wear a dress to that one interview.”

“That’s because it was a very prestigious company and they don’t hire women often.” Mel deadpanned. 

“Alright, but my point still stands. Just chillax okay?” Jay pushed Mel’s shoulder, concern evident on his face. “Need me to invite the gang over?”

“Oh god no. I love the gang but we are chaos incarnate when we’re all together.” Mel shakes their head hard enough for the elastic hair band to slip, spilling their hair around their shoulders.

Jay blushed but covered it with a cough before they spoke up, “Yeah, yeah, fair. But uh... You wanna do something? Just uh us then?” 

“...I think I just wanna hit the hay... Sort my thoughts out... ‘Preciate the offer though.” Mel gives a small smile and pats Jay’s shoulder. 

“Aight... Better not catch you in that headset. Gonna have to get the video game police, gonna have to take your license to game away.” Jay says, making Mel laugh before pulling Jay into a hug making them blush. 

“You’re a real bro you know that.” Mel smiles a bit wider before waving and heading to their room. 

* * *

  
Gordon was back in the silent, black, terrifying void again. Not panicking like last time but not happy to be back here. He heard a door creak and shut and something flop down on either a seat or bed. Probably Mel. 

Gordon frowned to himself thinking over the last interaction. He recognized that probably hadn’t been the best way to go about getting Mel’s attention, especially since the game obviously had some kind of limiter on him. He’d have to be more careful next time... 

If there was a next time.

That thought sent ice cold fear down his spine. 

What if Mel decided to not continue the game? What if they did but refused to speak again? What happens to him? To the others? To their world? If some part of Mel’s system fails? Or if the game gets deleted?

What will happen to Joshua?

...Is Joshua real?

Gordon realizes he’s hyperventilating again but he can’t stop it, he’d gone too far down the rabbit hole of the line of thought and now he’s paying the price. 

Though as he continues to panic he wonders why the game hasn’t shocked him into line again. 

He suddenly feels a hand on his face, making him look up as he keeps breathing hard, black creeping into his vision, or maybe it’s just the void, hard to tell. He’s only just aware the owner of the hand is speaking at him, their other hand taking one of his and puts it on their chest. 

“-okay? Breathe with me.” Gordon finally hears them, focusing on the steady in and out. 

Eventually the black clears up a bit and he see the person more clearly. Surprisingly it’s a young woman, probably mid twenties, honey brown eyes watching him in concern, waiting for him to speak. 

“Wh- who are you?” Gordon asks, mentally cursing his stutter. 

“Uh... Well... I’m Mel.” They say quietly. “And um... You- you’re Gordon aren’t you...”

“Yeah.” He gives a nod. “But uh... how are you here?”

“A- a good question... Wherever here exactly is.” Mel looks around before focusing back on Gordon. “I dunno? I went to bed early and then woke up here and saw you.” They shrug, hoodie strings bouncing slightly. 

“Normally sleep fully dressed?” Gordon asks, noticing Mel’s red converse sneakers. 

“Hah, no, weird.” Mel says, brushing it off. “Gordon... Do- do you- Uh...” Gordon just waits until Mel figures out what they want to say, sitting with them watching their black and orange fingernails play with the hoodie strings. “...I must be going nuts, you’re probably my brain trying to make sense of getting that shock.”

“I think that was my fault.” Gordon sighs. “...Game must not have liked me saying stuff...” Mel stares at him wide eyed and blinks owlishly. 

“Wait you know? And what?” Mel asks. 

“Pieced it together, game shocked me when you paused and then when I said that I could hear you.” Gordon sighs, deciding to lay down since there wasn’t any reason to sit upright really. 

“Oh... Sorry...” Mel frowns. 

“It’s not your fault. I mean the world pausing thing is but not the shock thing.” Gordon says. “Which um, sorry for getting mad at you for that, it just feels really weird when it happens and I might have been freaking out a bit and yeah.” Gordon mumbles as he picks at the HEV suit. 

“Hey... That’s totally fair man.” Mel says gently. “And sorry I tend to pause pretty frequently cause of Jay or food... I can shut down instead if that’s better?” 

“Nah... I kinda was just stressed from everything.” Gordon sighs. 

“Yeah, experiment going south, messed up aliens and mutant shit, all that jazz.” Mel says. 

“Not my fault.” Gordon grumbles. 

Mel chuckles as they lay down beside him. “Nah definitely not. Predetermined game bullshit.” 

“...I’m surprised we can even talk about it...” Gordon says, confusion laced in his tone. 

“Maybe this place is outside of the game enough we can talk?”

“Last time I was here I could hear you and Jay.” Gordon shrugs, “I’m not sure this is the same place though?” 

“You creepin’ on me?” Mel asks with a chuckle. 

“Not intentionally!” Gordon defends himself. 

“I’m joking dude.” Mel laughs. Gordon chuckles and joins after a moment before they both fall quiet. 

Mel breaks the silence first, “So... What do we do now? I- I don’t- I don’t think I should keep going unless I know the game and can keep you safe.”

“Huh? But... I’m just a character right? I mean... It does break my brain a little to think about it but... Doesn’t mean there’s anything you can do...” Gordon turns to Mel. 

“There’s gotta be something.” Mel props herself up on her elbow. “I work on software, dabbled in games nothing came out of it, but still! I’m sure I can do something.” 

Gordon snorts and crosses his arms over his chest. “Sorry for not being more supportive... I just don’t see it happening.”

“Screw you.” Mel shoves him and pouts, turning away from him. 

“Mel come on...” Gordon sighs. 

“No, I’m gonna do it. You’ll see. I promise, you and everyone else on the science team, I’ll get you guys out.” Mel says bitterly. 

“Alright, alright. Then keep going... We’ll see what we get into, I’m sure it’ll be fine, and you can work on getting us out. Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy.” 

“Hey Benrey too.” Mel snorts, turning to face him again.

“Really?” Gordon makes a face. 

“He’s fine! He’s just making jokes!” Mel rolls her eyes. 

“Fine he can come, but you’re going to babysit him.”

“Whatever dude. But anyway,” Mel sticks her pinky finger out, black chipped nail polish in view. “I pinky promise, I’ll get you all out.”

Gordon laughs before wrapping his pinky around hers. “Alright. I accept your pinky promise. And I pinky promise that I will not make the game shock us again.” 

Mel laughs, “I appreciate that cause Jay was freaked man.” They drop their hand and Gordon drops his. 

“Jay sounds way too like Benrey.” Gordon groans. 

“Which is why I gotta get him out too! Imagine the two of them in the same room.” Mel snorts. 

“God help us.” Gordon groans making Mel laugh. 

They talk for a while longer, chuckling and making jokes about the team. Mel telling Gordon about her friends and what some of the ideas about getting them out are. Gordon smiles more than he has in the past two days or however long it’s actually been in the game or real world. 

Eventually they start winding down in their conversation, Mel stretching before frowning. “I think I’m waking up... Shit I hope I remember this...” Mel whispers. 

“Pretty sure you will. And... I can try to remind you in subtle ways. Besides, you’re not the one the game shocks if they say something about it being a game so... Just say something about it when you start playing.” Gordon suggests. 

“I- I guess that works. Gordon?” Mel looks to him, honey brown eyes looking worried. “What if we don’t talk like this again?”

“Mel,” he puts a hand on her shoulder, “Given that we’re doing it now? I think we have a good shot? My hypothesis is this’ll be a reoccurring thing.”

“Forgot you are a science nerd.” Mel snorts but smiles at him. 

“I’m letting that one pass.” Gordon rolls his green eyes with a shake of his head. “But I want to be able to talk like this again, and obviously you do too. So, we’ll just have to hope we do.” He smiles softly. 

“Yeah... I hope so.” Mel says before suddenly hugging Gordon. “Just in case though.” She says into the metal of the HEV suit. 

“Heh, thanks.” Gordon smiles softly, gently hugging Mel back before she suddenly disappears in his arms. “See you later Mel...”


	7. Chapter 7

Mel wakes up late the next morning, thanking her lucky stars it’s Sunday before quickly writing down her thoughts on some loose paper. Having ended up remembering everything from talking with Gordon much to their relief. 

“...Gordon if you’re awake I remember.” Mel whispers quietly to the headset, cheeks a bit rosy from embarrassment for talking to a VR headset. “I’ll start playing in a little bit...”

Mel quickly eats breakfast and assures Jay who began pestering them about how they feel that they’re fine. It takes far more convincing than Mel thought it would, making them feel a bit bad that they were immediately going to keep playing the game.

But not bad enough to not do it. 

Once back in their room and space is cleared Mel puts on the headset with a small smile. “Alright, Gordon, let’s kick some butt.” 

* * *

Bubby watched Gordon as he slept on the couch, sharp teeth chewing on the inside of his cheek, a scowl on his face. Some leader Gordon turned out to be. Absolute garbage at making plans, no wonder the experiment failed. Now if he was leader they’d have already gotten out and been comfortable at... Well he could probably pester Coomer to let him stay. 

Gordon started to shift and wake up with a grunt. “Ugh my back...”

“Serves you right for hogging the couch.” Bubby snipes. 

“Sorry.” Gordon scratches at the back of his head. 

“Whatever, get the others and let’s go.” Bubby growls and heads out of the room missing Gordon rolling his eyes at him. He also doesn’t catch Benrey following him until they have enough distance from the room to not be overheard. “What are you doing?” Bubby grumbles. 

“Uhhh following you?” Benrey drawls before giving a smirk. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Bubby raises an eyebrow at the invitation for conversation before he growls, “How obviously I’d be a better leader!”

“Yeah?” Benrey looks amused, if the slight quirk of his lip could make the deadpan expression become amused. 

“Yes.” Bubby hisses. “Gordon is weak and useless! We could have been out of here already!” 

“Mmm... maybe Gordo needs some leader lessons.” Benrey shrugs turning to the noise of the others catching up. 

“Maybe...” Bubby starts stewing on a plan as he watches Gordon. 

* * *

Mel had been rambling about anything that came up, much more talkative now since meeting Gordon in the void, and Gordon was glad for it. Even if he couldn’t respond back because of the game’s rules. They’d gone through quite a bit now, Mel saying they should be seeing the surface soon. Gordon feeling like that’s true, but definitely not the end of everything. Some of the fights had been a little intense. Mel had taken the reins each time to get the creatures that attacked them, still a little uncomfortable for Gordon but he was more used to it now. 

Facing a puzzle in the form of jumping platforms Mel plotted out a plan, ‘Okay we just gotta jump and then jump over the thingy to the left and bam.’ Gordon relays the plan to the others who follow with ease. 

“Excellent work, Gordon!” Coomer praises as they get to more stable footing.

Gordon gives Dr. Coomer a small smile, “I think we’re almost there.” 

“Finally geez.” Bubby grumbles. 

‘Where’s Benrey?’ Mel asks quietly. Gordon looks around with a frown. 

“Anyone seen Benrey?” Gordon asks not spotting him. 

“He went ahead.” Dr. Coomer replies cheerfully. Gordon just keeps frowning. 

“I’m sure Benrey’s fine Mister Freeman.” Tommy pats his shoulder and continues forward. Gordon can’t shake the bad feeling though. 

The surface was chaos and so loud and god why did the military have to shoot at them. Mel spotted the entry back into Black Mesa and Gordon got everyone back inside, safe for now. Breathing hard they find a safe room, or safe enough for now and Gordon takes a seat on the floor. 

_ ‘Well... I mean not unexpected but holy shit.’ _ Mel grumbles. 

“We were quite lucky you spotted that entrance Gordon.” Dr. Coomer praises as he, Tommy, and Bubby take a seat. 

“Yeah... Wasn’t expecting that fire fight.” Gordon sighs and rubs his arm. 

“It’s okay Mister Freeman! The military must be fighting the a-aliens.” Tommy says. 

“They seemed happy to shoot anything that moved.” Gordon and Mel grumble together, this time though there wasn’t a headache attached to them speaking at the same time. 

“Hmph we don’t have all day. Let’s keep going.” Bubby grouses, standing up. 

“You sure?” Gordon asks, stalling so Mel will say if they will or won’t continue but Bubby doesn’t wait and grabs Gordon and pulls him to his feet with surprising strength. Mel gasps in his head as Bubby growls. 

“Yes. Let’s move.” Bubby shoves him to the door and hits his shoulder with his own as they head out. 

“Rude...” Gordon frowns watching Dr. Coomer and Tommy follow Bubby. 

_ ‘Dude what the fuck he lifted me off the ground too.’ _ Mel says still shocked by what happened. 

“Wha- no way...” Gordon mumbles, before catching up to the group, he follows behind them until they run into Benrey who for whatever reason was chatting with some of the military who stalked off as they approached. 

“Dude why are you talking to them?” Gordon frowns. 

“Uhhh PSN buddies, we chill.” Benrey shrugs and hops off the crate he was sitting on. 

“They shot at us.” Gordon frowns. 

“Don’t be a baby then. Gordon need baby mode? Gordon need easy mode?” Benrey grins as he mocks Gordon, which in turn makes Gordon stomp away. 

_ ‘Whoa hey! Gordon you just totally made me move what?’  _ Mel says, slight panic in their voice.  _ ‘Like first Bubby picking us off the ground now this what even... Makes zero sense because we aren’t sharing a body?’ _ Mel keeps rambling as they try to decipher what had happened. 

Gordon bites his lip before turning to see if the others weren’t close to him, Tommy and Dr. Coomer were chatting together and Bubby and Benrey were talking about something, occasionally glancing toward Gordon. 

Since he had a good distance between him and the rest he decided to risk it, “You have... Moved me... Especially when fighting.” He winces waiting for a shock but is relieved to not get one. 

_ ‘Yeah but... That’s because I have the controllers? I mean, I’m sorry if it feels weird? But umm... Bubby- Bubby shouldn’t have been able to lift me up at all? Because I’m not- I’m not there...’ _ Mel sounds like they’re having a panic attack, breath coming in short choppy bursts. 

“Woah, woah hey, Mel, hey it’s- It’s gonna be okay, just breathe.” Gordon says softly, “Just breathe okay? I don’t know what happened either but it’s going to be alright.” He tries to assure Mel. 

_ ‘R-right. Right- I- I’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.’ _ Mel repeats a few times. 

“Yeah we’ll be fine...” Gordon says quietly. 

“Of course we will Gordon!” Dr. Coomer says happily patting his shoulder. Gordon will not admit to having been startled and that the only shriek came from Mel obviously. 

“Dr. Coomer! Jeez- Give me some more warning.” Gordon wheezes out. 

“I did!” Coomer simply smiles before walking ahead. “I’m thirsty Gordon! Let’s find some soda!” 

“Right… Soda.” Gordon rubs his face which makes Mel grumble something about possession or something, Gordon didn’t quite catch it as he continues forward. 

Bubby and Benrey share an unsettling grin from behind the group.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey just a quick warning that this chapter is kind of intense! I tried to not go into great detail but if you’re freaked out by blood or don’t like the idea of dry heaving you may wish to skip this. 
> 
> That being said enjoy this chapter! :)

Darkness.

Pain. 

The smell...

God their head hurt. It hurt so bad. The dim light was blinding. Probably a concussion. 

Searing pain. 

Burning pain. 

A raspy gasp of air inflating their lungs. They dry heave as they catch a glimpse of it. Don’t think about it. Need help, have to get help. 

Hurt. 

Betrayal. 

Fury. 

No one to trust now. No... Tommy, Tommy hadn’t right? And Dr. Coomer too right? Don’t remember... Too fuzzy. Bubby and Benrey... NO! NOT SAFE! BETRAYED!

Have to focus. 

Too much pain. 

Hurts too much to move. Every motion their arm makes feels like fire. Another round of dry heaving makes them stumble as they stand up from the wall they leaned on. 

Tears. 

Sobs. 

Hold it in.

Can’t break down yet. Not safe. Too exposed. No defense. 

Can’t remember it all.

Something missing.

What’s wrong?

Something’s very wrong...

Wh-What was their name again?

Gordon? Mel? Neither sounds right... 

Keep moving, have to get help, have to make it out. 

Out.

Out of this mess.

Out of this insanity.

Out of Black Mesa.

Out of this game. 

The shock to their system hurt worse than their arm. Felt like they were being torn apart atom by atom and reformed just as fast. They fell at some point in the shock, dirt and coarse gravel grinding into their arm, painting the ground red. 

So much red. 

Fuck this! 

Fuck everything! 

Those bootlickers should have just finished them off! Anything but this pain! Anything but this! It hurts so much!

They should be dead...

No- no they can’t die. They have to survive. For everyone getting out right? Do- do they still want that? How can they want that? 

And- and Jay... Have to get back to Jay... 

What- what about Joshua... Joshua... Wasn’t he real? Was he real? Too fuzzy...

Ladders were hard.

Swimming even harder. 

Everything is so hard. 

Probably shouldn’t get anything on their arm... Don’t need an infection...

They dry heave again thinking about it.

Have to keep moving...

* * *

They had found a small break room though Bubby had begun complaining loudly about getting a move on. Mel had whispered a quiet warning about pausing before the world stopped. 

_ ‘Sorry Gordon. I need a small break before I can continue. I’ll try to be quick though.’ _ Mel says gently as there’s a small amount of shuffling and the door clicking open. 

Gordon is actually thankful for the pause, his eyes fixed on Bubby stuck mid rant, taking stock of what he knew about Bubby. And by extension Benrey. Both the guard and scientist were acting very suspicious, especially after finding out that the military was on the premise. 

Gordon didn’t want to think badly of them, especially since Mel still wanted to bring them all out of the game. 

Did his own hand just move? Or not move but... a weird color and it almost looks like... His hand had been pulled apart? But it happened so fast he wasn’t sure...

Probably his eyes playing tricks on him. He watched Bubby carefully before Benrey popping in front of his face startled him badly. At least he couldn’t physically react and give away that he knew Benrey was moving around. 

How was he moving around???

Benrey watched Gordon for a moment before grimacing. “None of you know anything.” He starts poking Gordon’s cheek. “None of ya.” 

He cracks a soda and pulls the tab off, crunching on it with a horrific noise, before actually drinking the soda. “Stupid game making all these stupid rules. Bet you don’t even know you’re being controlled.” He says as he looks at Gordon. 

I do dumb ass that’s why I got shocked. 

“It’s dumb... Thought we could be friends like before. Except you don’t know anything. Can’t make you remember, game’s rules, not poggers.” Benrey rambles. “Just wanna be friends but noooo...” Red to indigo orbs leaving his mouth as he sits and thinks before he leaves the room. 

What did Benrey mean by any of that? They literally met today? And why would he be friends with Benrey of all people? Benrey’s not- not human! How would he have met him before this? 

Gordon’s mind replays Benrey’s words over and over until Mel returns and continues the game. 

* * *

It hurts to move. Eyes keep closing... 

No have to continue. 

Would it- would it be so bad to take a nap?

Yes. We keep moving. 

Who is ‘we’?

I don’t know...

It’s like these stupid tunnels won’t end. And trying to keep their arm away from anything is exhausting. And shit they thought about it. 

Nothing comes up. Nothing has. And nothing will. But their body shakes as they heave nothing. 

Fuck this game.

They scream as their body is shocked, the tearing sensation their body feels is getting stronger, tears spill over from their eyes. 

Why does the game keep doing this?

Another shock, stronger yet, making their head feel like static as they black out. 

* * *

“Alright we’ve been at this for hours Bubby! We need to take a break.” Gordon growls. 

_ ‘I could just pause... I know you don’t like it though... Jay’s getting worried, didn’t like that I was still playing.’ _ Mel says quietly. 

Jay had interrupted sometime getting closer to dinner for Mel, who had apologized but got Jay to back down saying that they were fine and nothing’s happened, saying it was probably static or something. Mel also mentioned that they wouldn’t be able to play tomorrow since they had a full day of work ahead on Monday. Jay had stepped out to pick up a few groceries at the local store however so Mel had continued playing.

“We’ll stop when we’re out Gordon!” Bubby snarls. 

“Listen I’m fucking tired! We’ve been constantly on the move! Just an hour nap!” Gordon tries. 

“What baby need nap time?” Benrey smirks. 

“Gordon needs nap time, yes!” Gordon’s volume gets louder. “We’re no closer to leaving and we need to find a safe place to rest so let’s do that!” 

“You’re being annoying.” Bubby sneers. 

“Fuck you.” 

_ ‘Shit this is getting heated...’ _ Mel says.  _ ‘Gordon come on.’ _

“Stop being a little bitch.” Bubby snaps. 

“Stop being a fucking asshole!” Gordon snaps back. 

“M-M-Mister Freeman! Bubby! Please calm down.” Tommy interjects, putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder while Coomer puts a hand on Bubby’s. 

“Now, Bubby, rest will do all of us good! I understand you wish to get out. Just as much as all of us. But continuing to push so hard will not be safe!” Dr. Coomer says gently.

“M-M-Mister Freeman just take- take a-a couple deep breaths. Like- like you’re going to inflate a b-big balloon.” Tommy says, patting Gordon’s shoulder lightly. Gordon obliges, taking a few begrudgingly at first before sighing. 

“Sorry, Tommy.” Gordon puts a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. 

“It’s o-okay Mister Freeman! This is… um… very stressful. Makes me wish I had Sunkist...” Tommy says a bit sadly. 

_ ‘Sunkist? Who or what is Sunkist?’ _ Mel asks confused. 

“Sunkist?” Gordon tilts his head. 

“She’s my dog! She’s perfect! I miss her a lot.” Tommy sniffles a bit. Gordon hesitates for a moment before pulling Tommy into a quick hug. 

“You’ll see her again soon. I’m sure of it.” Gordon says quietly. 

_ ‘I’ll definitely look through the files... I don’t know if there will be a model for Sunkist though...’  _ Mel says softly. 

...Will there be a model for Joshua?

“Let’s find a safe place to rest, shall we?” Coomer pipes up, smiling as he starts walking. Bubby and Benrey eventually take the lead. Benrey spouted something random about watching for Gordon’s passport or some other excuse. Gordon was too tired to really care. 

* * *

Getting up was hard. Hurt like hell. They couldn’t tell if they’d gotten anything on their arm. 

Did it matter at this point?

It does!

Not really... Probably already going to get an infection...

They keep themselves from gagging, just barely. Feet taking shaky steps forward. Barely able to keep themselves from falling over as they lean against the wall. Metal of the HEV suit scraping against the pipe. 

The pipe becomes too narrow to stand, eventually having to crawl forward on hand and knees. 

There’s a light up ahead. 

Wait... Is that? It is! 

“Tommy!” They cry out, voice slightly staticky, as they get closer. 

They try their best to not get any red on Tommy when they pull him into a hug after they stumble out of the pipe, he doesn’t deserve that. Unfortunately the tears they can’t hold back soak Tommy’s shoulder. 

“M-M-Mister Freeman!” Tommy gasps, holding them up more than they would admit to. But... Mister Freeman... That doesn’t sound right...

“Mister Freeman y-your arm!” Tommy gasps. 

“Y-yeah...” Static comes from their mouth. “Hurts like hell...” 

“Oh geez M-Mister Freeman you look like you’re going to pass out. We- we should find the others!” 

“No!” The static gets louder. Tommy looks at them worriedly. “They- they betrayed us!” 

“M-Mister Freeman I’m- I’m sure there’s an explanation. Those military men were real mean.”

They narrow their stare at Tommy. “Did- did you let them?” 

“Wh- No! Mister Freeman they tricked me too! They said they had beyblades... They didn’t...” Tommy says sadly. 

“I- We- I- I believe you.” They stutter out, hand gripping their hair. Their head hurt badly, their eyes losing focus which only comes back when Tommy’s hand waves in front of their face. 

“I didn’t realize you have heterochromia M-Mister Freeman!” Tommy chirps. 

“Huh?” They frown. “I- We- I don’t...”

“But... one of your eyes is green like soft pine and the other is light brown like summer honey. Both lovely colors...” Tommy tilts his head. “We- we should find somewhere safe to bandage you up and check you over...” Tommy stands carefully and helps them up. 

* * *

Jay had heard Mel scream bloody murder followed quickly by a loud thump as they entered their shared house. They tossed their grocery bags aside and ran to Mel’s room, glad the door was unlocked but immediately panicked as they found Mel’s body on the floor, headset still on and right hand twitching violently. 

“Mel! Mel wake up! What happened! Mel!” Jay shook Mel’s shoulders, no response though. They moved to take off the headset, try to make Mel more comfortable and to check them for injuries, but they yelp and stumble back, holding their hand tight to their chest. 

“What the fuck?!” They growl as they check their hand, it looks fine but the shock they received from the headset was something else. Mel’s hand finally stops twitching as they move to her side again. 

“Mel please get up.” Mel doesn’t move still, at least she’s breathing. Jay carefully lifts Mel onto her bed, trying to be gentle as they set her down. “Mel come on. Please? For Jay? Please Mel?” Jay whispers trying again to take the headset off but they receive another shock, they miss Mel’s hand twitching and changing color briefly. 

“Please Mel...” Jay leaves to quickly put away the groceries and returns to Mel’s side, keeping watch for when Mel would wake up.

* * *

The room of clones was terrifying, both from being unable to defend themself and what Coomer had said. Nightmare fuel for years to come certainly. Thankfully the Coomer they knew was gentle and kind after the situation calmed down. 

“Sorry, Gordon! But thank you and Tommy for defeating my clones!” He smiles. 

“M- My name’s not... I- We- Need help...” they groan, head throbbing before they shout from their arm accidentally hitting something. 

“We certainly do! I’m sure Bubby can help us!” Dr. Coomer smiles. 

“NO!” They shriek, static flaring making their voice raw. “He betrayed us! Why would we find him!”

“Now Gordon. Bubby has lived in Black Mesa all his life! He does not have great social awareness but I’m sure having a rational discussion between the two of you will make everything clear. 

“N... not two... three... head, head hurts...” They collapse falling forward, Tommy thankfully catching them before they hit the ground. 

Tommy looks to Coomer, “M-Mister Freeman has been saying some strange things...”

“I’m sure it’s his injuries Tommy, the sooner we get to Bubby and find Benrey. The sooner we can try and get to safety and find a way to give Gordon the care he needs. 

“Right.” Tommy nods, helping Dr. Coomer drag Gordon toward their next goal.


	9. Chapter 9

They blink awake, the new room has a soft green glow to it. It’s calming... But they are quickly reminded of the pain of their injury, curling protectively over it. 

“Mister Freeman! You had me worried.” Tommy frets next to them. 

“S-sorry.” Why does their mouth feel like sandpaper? When did they fall asleep? They can’t fall asleep. Sleep is bad… They refocus on Tommy’s words realizing they had spaced out. 

“-once we get Bubby out we’ll find Ben-“ 

“ **_NO!_ ** ” They bellow, leaping to their feet and whipping their head to find Bubby floating in a tube of green liquid. “ **_You._ ** ” They hiss at the scientist in the tube. “ **_You got our fucking arm cut off!_ ** ” They shout at Bubby who shrinks back slightly. They open their mouth to shout again but they are quickly cut off by dry heaving. 

“I didn’t know they’d do that.” Bubby huffs. “Benrey and I had told them to rough you up yeah, but we- we didn’t tell them to do that.” He doesn’t look at the others. 

“My- Our- our arm.” They whimper once they catch their breath. “It- it’s gone, it hurts, I- we- hurt...” They keep mumbling quietly to themselves about their arm, hunching over it protectively. 

Coomer watches Gordon, concern and some other emotion neither of the others are sure of on his face, before he stares at Bubby. Bubby shifts uncomfortably under his gaze before finally groaning and running a hand down his face. “I am sorry Gordon. I know that it doesn’t seem like I am but I am sorry. You didn’t deserve that. Now please. Can you all release me from this fucking tube?” 

They shiver for a moment before Tommy gets their attention. They swallow, looking at Bubby and Coomer before hesitantly nodding. 

Coomer nods and frees Bubby, catching him when the liquid suspending him disappears. “Now, let’s find somewhere we can give Gordon proper medical attention.” Coomer says. Bubby frowns but ends up coming over to help get them on their feet but they flinch away. 

“I’m not going to hurt you again you big baby.” Bubby grumbles, but it lacks his usual bite. 

“We’re not a baby.” Gordon mumbles, making the other three men look at each other confused. 

“Mister Freeman?” Tommy asks gently, kneeling next to them. 

Gordon shakes their head, “Not- not my name... Can’t remember... Not Gordon... Not Mel... Not sure...” 

“Mel?” Dr. Coomer frowns. 

“Those boot boys must have hit his head or something.” Bubby sighs. “There’s a medical station not too far from here, if it hasn’t been taken out.” 

“Who’s Mel though?” Tommy asks with a frown. 

“Play-“ They gasp as they’re shocked again, writhing on the floor trying to not bang their arm on anything. Tommy, Coomer, and Bubby jump back from them, Gordon’s form destabilizes before putting itself back together, but it happened so quickly none of them were sure exactly what they had just witnessed. They breathed in ragged gasps, wishing they could return to the void, desperate for safety, for home. 

“Mist- Um... Well... We should get moving...” Tommy mumbles, worries getting to him as he picks at his lab coat before helping pick Gordon off the ground with Bubby’s help after it seemed that they were too out of it to react to who helped them. 

* * *

They keep slipping in and out of awareness as they move through the facility. The most aware they are is whenever the military comes in. Then they and the Science team are painfully aware of how often they cower in the corners they hide in, waiting for the gun fire to cease. They hadn’t had luck yet finding a medical station either, Gordon looking worse for wear as more time passed. 

When the team runs into Benrey, Gordon punches him hard in the face, bruised skin showing quickly on Benrey’s cheek, Gordon’s glare centered on Benrey who seems surprised by both getting hit and the state Gordon’s in. 

“Whuh- That’s not how you greet a bro, man.” Benrey says backing up from him. 

“ **_Greet a bro?! A bro?!_ ** ” They shout outraged, eyes seeming to crackle with energy despite having been ready to keel over moments before meeting up again. “ **_You fucking did this!_ ** ” The static gets louder in their voice and Benrey’s eyes widen, looking at the stump. Gordon’s form is... Fuzzy. Is the only way Tommy can describe it. Like it’s not all there. And Benrey’s mask of indifference falls showing how afraid he is for a moment. 

“Bro... Just- Just calm down. Come on Feetman...”

“ **_MY NAME IS NOT FEETMAN!_ ** ” They shout with such force that everyone steps back. “It’s not... It’s not... I don’t- We don’t...” Gordon trails off to quiet mumbles as he falls to his knees. 

Benrey hesitates for a long moment before kneeling next to Gordon and putting a hand on his shoulder, not getting any reaction from Gordon who’s shaking under his hand Benrey checks him over gently. 

He’s mostly concerned about the static he hears when he touches him. 

Something is wrong...

Where’s the player?

“Gordon...” He starts quietly trying to get his thoughts together before being interrupted.

“N-not my name... Our name- not- not sure... Can’t- Can’t remember...” They stutter out quietly, looking at Benrey who manages to stifle a gasp at the two very different eye colors. 

Well... He got his answer for where the player is...

“Benrey while this is touching, Gordon is in need of medical attention...” Dr. Coomer interrupts with a frown. 

“Uh yeah... I uh. There’s a med station a bit ahead...” Benrey grimaces seeing the red from the stump drip down. That wasn’t supposed to happen...

“Alright... I’m- I’m not sure how much Mister- Um... how much they? They. They will like you sticking with us... But um... If you’re telling the truth I think it’ll be okay?” Tommy says, starting to pick up Gordon’s form from the ground.

“Oh uh. Right. Didn’t um... Didn’t think they’d be- I guess- Sorry...” Benrey sighs. “Not- Not a lie on the med station... follow- follow please?” He says a bit strained at the end as he moves to lead the group. Dr. Coomer watches Benrey carefully as Bubby helps Tommy with Gordon. 

Benrey gets lost in his thoughts as he leads them through the map that’s ingrained in his mind. 

He fucked up bad huh... Hopefully Gordon’s arm heals soon.

And... And the player isn’t in his body anymore. 

This was really the player’s fault, right? They were the one who didn’t question things enough. They didn’t protect Gordon. The player was here... That- that shouldn’t be possible...

Benrey was determined to get the player out.

No matter what he had to do. 

* * *

The med station lacks the supplies to get Gordon’s state completely under control, but at least they can wrap Gordon’s arm enough that the red is gone and infection is probably not going to be an immediate threat. For the time being at least. 

Gordon had passed out on the table the team had made him lay down on. Tommy had panicked badly, as had Benrey, before they both saw the slight movement of the HEV suit’s chest plate showing that he was still breathing. 

“Well. I believe we have a few things to discuss gentlemen.” Dr. Coomer says, tone kind but a hidden edge underneath that meant no one was escaping from the talk. 

They all sit down on what they can find that’s reasonably comfortable, Tommy immediately pulling out the worn rubik's cube while glancing at Gordon, Benrey trying to keep his eyes away from Gordon but keeps watching him as he rubs his now unbruised cheek, a perk of healing fast, and Bubby looking anywhere else but Dr. Coomer or Gordon. 

The initial silence makes Benrey fidget and pick at the paint of the barrel he sat on. 

“Now... I believe both Bubby and Benrey have apologized to Gordon,” Dr. Coomer starts, “And I did apologize for my clones as well.” He pauses to gather his thoughts, Benrey picking harder when the silence stretches longer than he would like. “Gordon has said... Some odd things.” Coomer finally settles on. 

“We all say some odd shit.” Bubby huffs, but there’s no real bite behind it. 

“Y-yeah, but- but Mister Freeman seems to have- have memory problems...” Tommy frowns, pausing his fingers on the cube, “He- He doesn’t seem to like being called Mister- Mister Freeman or- or Gordon.” 

“Indeed,” Coomer nods, “And he mentioned the name Mel.” 

“Probably has a concussion and is hallucinating because of the blood loss.” Bubby snips, tugging his lab coat a bit closer around him. 

“No. I believe Gordon is referring to the Player.” Coomer says, Benrey reels from the statement, staring at Coomer with wide eyes. 

“Player? Oh. Oh...” Tommy nods in agreement after thinking it over. 

Bubby looks between the three of them in confusion, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“The- The Player is um... They control Gordon’s actions?” Tommy says quietly. 

“Gordon controls his own actions.” Bubby frowns. 

“Pro- Dr. Bubby,” Coomer sighs, “We are- We are merely characters in a game, a virtual space created to provide entertainment.”

“How do you know about the Player, Dr. Coomer?” Benrey suddenly jumps in, having climbed off the barrel. “None- None of you are supposed to know.” Benrey also looks at Tommy, sweet voice bubbling up as he vents the anxious thoughts running through his head. 

“I am a tutorial NPC Benrey.” Coomer says simply, “I don’t believe I was supposed to be here, but the Player must have thought I was interesting, something must have made the Game decide that I was to stick around.” He smiles. “I believe that’s why my clones became a thing as well.”

“... I frankly don’t get this, but it does... Make sense.” Bubby begrudgingly admits. “Don’t like it though.” 

“But how do you know?” Benrey presses, missing the small sigh of relief from Tommy as does Dr. Coomer and Bubby. 

“How do you?” Coomer deflects patiently. 

“I- I’m just- ugh- that’s- that’s spoilers...” Benrey grumbles, a vent of anger comes out with the sweet voice. 

“I believe we are safe from spoiler risk for now.” Dr. Coomer gestures to Gordon. 

“...I- I-“ Benrey groans, palms digging into his eyes as sweet voice bubbles out. 

“Blue to green... Doesn’t want to be mean...” Tommy says quietly. 

“And what makes you not want to be mean?” Coomer asks, eyes boring into Benrey. 

“I- I’m supposed to- to be the final boss now... I- It was some other weird alien but now- now it’s me and I know I got Gordon hurt but I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to hurt him.” Benrey grips at his helmet, feeling Tommy’s hand on his back. 

“Well... I believe we can attempt to repair our relationships with Gordon. Though I do not have high hopes of that succeeding.” Coomer sighs. 

“We- we just need to help Gordon stay safe more right? If- if he’s safe it’ll be okay!” Tommy says optimistically. Bubby’s laugh of disbelief deflates his small grin quickly.

“Keep him safe? Benrey and I made him lose a limb! We’re never going to get his trust back.” Bubby growls, closing in on himself. 

“Yeah... And it’s not just Gordon...” Benrey watches the sleeping scientist, grey bubbles that start light and get darker leaving his lips. 

“Grey to greyer means thinking about the player.” Tommy says. 

“While true, you’re kinda reaching there.” Benrey gives a weak chuckle at Tommy’s rhyme. “We- we have to get them out of Gordon... They somehow- somehow combined...” Benrey takes off his helmet, hand running through the surprisingly fluffy hair cropped close to his neck at the bottom. “That’s probably who Mel is... The player...”

Coomer nods, “Indeed. Though we need to be much more careful. I believe we’ve been fine since we aren’t controlled by the player, Mel, but Gordon is being... Shocked, for lack of a better word, if they refer to some things it seems.”

At the mention of Mel and Gordon’s names, a few bubbles of sweet voice bubble from Gordon’s mouth, surprising the science team into silence before Tommy speaks. “P-pine green soft to honey brown amber... that’s the same color as- as their eyes...” 

“Any particular translation?” Bubby asks, genuinely curious. 

“N-no... I- I think that’s- That’s them just referring to themselves...” Tommy picks at a green corner sticker on the rubik's cube. “I-I don’t think it’s good that they blend though... Or- or that they have sweet voice...”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, this got way longer than I thought? But also I hope you’ve been enjoying this so far! 
> 
> Feel free to find me at themarginalartist on tumblr to asks stuff too ya know? Or just screm about fic?

The void, it’s deep black is comforting, it doesn’t hurt here. Nothing is wrong here. 

Gordon and Mel wake up at the same time and look around before they spot each other, quickly moving to reach the only other person here, before stopping a short distance away and staring at each other. 

“Who are you?” They speak at the same time. 

“Sorry. Sorry...” Mel rubs the back of her head.

“No um... It’s okay. I um... I don’t know who I am though?” Gordon frowns.

“Weird, I don’t know who I am either.” Mel frowns. 

“I believe I can... Help. The both of you.” A new voice in the darkness says. 

“Who- who’s there?” Mel asks, moving quickly to close the distance between her and Gordon who stands protectively in front, hands at the ready. 

“I am... A representative of an interested party. One which. Wishes to see you both. Succeed.” A man, tall, and in a business suit, approaches them. It’s as if he just melted out of the darkness. Mel glances up at Gordon worry evident on her face. 

“You have. No need to fear me. I am merely here. To offer assistance.” The man’s eyes seem to glow in the darkness. 

“...You say that but there’s a price isn’t there?” Mel suddenly asks, not trusting of this man at all.

He smiles, making Mel hold onto Gordon tighter, “Indeed. There will be. A price in return for my. Services.”

“What kind of price?” Gordon asks.

“One that will be... Clear. In time.” The smile stays before returning to a neutral expression. 

“No.” Mel frowns, “What is the price? And your name?” 

“My associates refer to me as... G-man.” He adjusts his tie. “I cannot... Share too much of the price. But. You shall know it is... In your interest as well. Given... You have been. Hurt. By them.” He says. 

“Hurt what do you-“ Mel starts before gasping, falling to her knees just as Gordon does, both clutching their right arm. Mel nearly vomits seeing red dripping from the both of them. 

“A shame... To be, betrayed. As you have.”

“Bubby. Benrey...” Gordon mutters with venom in his voice. 

“The price will. Be paid by removing. Benrey. From the picture.” G-man says. “You will know when the time comes.” 

“Just- just wait a- a minute.” Mel tries to speak without stuttering from the pain. “Bubby didn’t mean- mean to and neither did Benrey.” 

“They still did it.” Gordon huffs, trying to stay stable.

“Benrey is. Not of this world. He must be... Eliminated.” G-man’s eyes bore into them. 

Mel looks at Gordon, confusion and hurt evident on both their faces, but Mel tries to get Gordon to think about this, something in her heart telling her that there was something wrong with what G-man was asking. Gordon seems to understand after a long moment of searching her face.

“No. We- we’ll be- be fine. Just- We don’t want your help.” Gordon’s teeth grind trying to not pass out from pain. Mel looking very pale as well. 

“Hmm... Then. You will need some more... Convincing.” G-man says. 

Darkness overtakes them. 

* * *

Jay had been able to contact Mel’s boss and told them that Mel was pretty sick and unable to come to the phone, followed by saying the same to their boss. Lies but what was Jay supposed to do? Mel was passed out in bed with a VR headset and controllers still on, and Jay can’t get them off because they keep getting shocked. 

It was stressful to say the least. 

They were just about to ask their mutual friends to help get Mel in a car to drive to the hospital when there was a faint groan. 

“Mel!” Jay shouts as Mel sits upright groggily. “You need to take off that headset.” Panic filters into their voice, but they restrain themself from jumping onto Mel, they are just barely able to restrain that desire though. 

“Wha-“ Mel pulls off the headset, controllers clacking against her arms before Jay pulls her into a hug. 

“Fuck dude you scared the shit out of me! Not a pro gamer move.” Jay holds tight, before pulling away when Mel makes a confused noise, gasping when they see Mel’s face. 

“Uh... I’m not Mel... My name is Gordon.” It’s Mel’s voice, but green eyes stare back at Jay. 

* * *

The science team had eventually settled down to rest, seeing as Gordon was out cold, even though they all had lingering fears as to what the sweet voice bubbling from Gordon’s lips had meant. Benrey didn’t really need to sleep, so he just faked it, waiting for everyone else to actually sleep (ignoring that Tommy was a pretty light sleeper and technically not human either) before moving quietly to Gordon’s side, thanking the fact the team had moved a bit away from Gordon when choosing to rest. 

“...You uh... You’re kinda in a bad place huh...” Benrey mumbles. “I suppose some of that is- is my fault... Big cringe really... I didn’t mean for you to be- be hurt.” His voice is barely above a whisper as he speaks, but sweet voice keeps bubbling out, making the room take on the dull glow of his anxiety and sadness and guilt. 

“Look... I know you’ll probably wake up and punch me again... I wouldn’t blame you. I want to punch me. I was a dick. A big uncool. And I didn’t think it’d be this way but now it is and I can’t stop it. I don’t want to be the bad guy but I’ve dug a stupid hole and now I can’t get out and you’re going to hate me forever and it’s dumb...” 

Benrey rubs his shoulder before gripping it tightly. “I don’t want to be the big bad at the end... Not that you’ll even know that...” He sighs. “I don’t know how much is Gordon really... The uncool player blocks me from sensing your actual thoughts. Dumb really... Big uncool, rather have 100% Free Range Gordo.”

“Then don’t be.” Gordon’s voice says, left hand resting over Benrey’s. Benrey startles at the touch and the fact Gordon is awake not having heard the shifting of the suit while he was deep in thought, ignoring his cheeks warming up, but before he can say anything he pales, staring at the honey brown eyes that look back at him with worry and slightly amused annoyance. “Also um... Hi? I’m Mel... The um... Uncool player.”

* * *

Getting Jay to calm down was an endeavor that Gordon had not been prepared for, to say the least. Jay had been a panicking mess prior to him waking up and went to a full blown panic attack after the realization that Gordon was in Mel’s body. They now were sitting in silence, Jay finally getting their breathing under control, and Gordon looking around at Mel’s room, taking stock of the state of things. 

“So... You uh- You said your name is Gordon?” Jay finally whispers out, as if not trusting themself to speak louder than that. 

“Uh yeah, Gordon, Gordon Freeman.” He rubs the back of his neck, or Mel’s neck ...For the sake of his sanity it’s his neck. 

“Like video game character Gordon Freeman?” Jay’s voice cracks when they ask, definitely too close to the edge of panic still. 

“Um yeah... Mel and I have talked and stuff. I know a bit about you. But uh- I don’t know why I’m here? Or how?” Gordon says softly, rubbing at where his arm was cut off. Mel’s actual arm is not cut but it’s terrifyingly numb up until where his arm was cut off, he can’t move the hand at all, as if it’s paralyzed. 

“What- what even? Totally not poggers. Going crazy bro. No way is this real. Prank please? Please be pranking Jay?” Jay clutches at their messy hair, tugging at the long low ponytail that does nothing to contain how fluffy their hair really is. 

“Whoah whoah Jay calm down. I’m sorry this isn’t a prank. I wish it was... This isn’t how Mel probably wanted to get me out of the game heh... But if I’m here... Mel must be there.” Gordon frowns deeply, rubbing at his chin, missing the feeling of running through his stubble. 

“Not good. Is- Is she safe?” Jay mumbles, tugging the hood of their hoodie over their head. 

“I’m not going to lie... I don’t know... The- The group of people we were with, they sorta betrayed us? Not everyone and at varying levels but... They got my arm chopped off. I- I think the game affected Mel though... I can’t move Mel’s arm below where it was cut.”

“What the fuck we need to go to a hospital right now!” Jay jumps up on their feet with panic in their eyes. 

“Hold on! Hold on.” Gordon tries to placate Jay. “Mel is still in the game, and I don’t know what’s happening in there.” 

“But- Ugh- Not cool, bad vibes bro.” Jay runs their hands down their face. 

“Sorry...” Gordon sighs. “Believe me, I’d rather not be here... Bad vibes indeed...”

* * *

Mel had to say she was not expecting Benrey to panic, which in turn woke up all of the science team up, and then said science team proceeded to panic as well. But here she was, pinching the bridge of her nose under Gordon’s glasses with the only hand Gordon has now as the four men (questionable how much is ‘men’ and how much is ‘alien’ with them because Mel is really noticing a weird energy off Tommy and Benrey now where as Bubby’s just attempting to start a fire and Coomer feels way too normal) start accusing each other and saying increasingly weird things. 

“Okay, okay! Stop! Everyone shut up!” Mel shouts out over the group who finally pause in place. “Geez, you all need to calm down.” Mel shakes her head. Gordon’s head? Not anymore it isn’t...

“Calm down! You’re not supposed to be here!” Bubby snaps. 

“Oh! I didn’t realize that Bubby! I’ll just skedaddle on off and have Gordon take his body back. Oh wait I can’t.” Mel bites back, getting a small huff of laughter from Benrey who immediately clams up when Bubby level’s a glare in his direction. 

“So umm... Y-you’re Mel?” Tommy asks, already fiddling with the rubik’s cube again. 

“Yeah. I’m kinda surprised you guys know who I am though?” She tilts her head. Benrey refused to admit to himself that it looked cute having Gordon tilt his head like that, reminding himself that it’s currently all Mel in there. Whoops all Mel. 

“Gordon mentioned your name.” Coomer supplies. 

“Huh... I didn’t think he could?” Mel frowns. 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Bubby cuts in. 

“Uh... It was black? And I couldn’t remember my name... But Gordon was there but he also didn’t remember his name? It was confusing...” Mel says as sweet voice bubbles out, not paying attention to the bubbles as if not aware but it shows that same confusion they mentioned. “But then we weren’t alone! Last time we were but suddenly there was a man, tall, piercing blue eyes, kinda an unreal blue, and in a suit.” 

“That sounds like my dad!” Tommy says. 

“...You’re dad?” Mel stares blankly at Tommy, more bubbles of confusion escaping. 

“It sounds like him at least, just uh... It’s a little weird he hasn’t said anything to me? But what did he say to you?” Tommy asks. 

“He um... Oh boy this is gonna sound bad but like believe me no way in fuck it’s going down that way and I think Gordon agrees with me or else I’m twisting his arm...” There’s a wince at the word choice, “Well he’s gonna follow me on this regardless-“

“Just spit it out!” Bubby growls. 

“He said he could help us but we’d have to kill Benrey cause he’s an alien or something.” Mel says quickly, wincing as Benrey realizes what was said and looks taken aback slightly. “But we are not and I mean it not doing that. And we said as such and then he was like ‘You need to be convinced hmm?’ and then black and then I woke up to Benrey talking. And um... My arm is starting to really hurt?” 

“Wow.” Bubby snorts. 

“Understatement of the fucking century my dude.” Mel rolls her eyes. 

* * *

Gordon was finding the shift to domestic living from being in intense battle after battle rather off putting. Jay had said they needed some food and a nap before they could continue with figuring out how to get Gordon back into the game and Mel out. Gordon had agreed but the silence of the house that now persisted was off putting. Not that he didn’t want this eventually, he just wanted this when he could enjoy it properly. 

Though that didn’t seem like something he’d get after they were done anyway. Not with the science team at least. The memories of what had happened had filtered back slowly, and he wasn’t exactly excited to see Bubby or Benrey again. Even if both were not entirely at fault he still was wary of them. He expected Mel was as well.

He’d found a few game systems plugged in and had started something mindless up with the volume low. He just needed something to distract himself since he didn’t exactly want to do anything related to the Game without Jay watching. He didn’t think Jay would approve if he did either. 

Gordon couldn’t keep his mind from drifting to Mel though, worried about her being frozen in the game for so long. It’s not like he wanted to leave her there either, he’d much rather have his own body back. 

But she could probably handle it? It was just sitting in a paused game right? Nothing happening, no worries about attacks, not going to bleed out.

Oh god she’s bleeding out in his body. 

Gordon loses whatever level he’s on, not that he particularly cares, now having a panic attack from thinking about Mel’s state. He doesn’t come out of it until he feels a hand on his shoulder and finds Jay’s deep blue eyes staring at him. 

“Gordon calm down. Breathe.” Jay semi commands, obviously having woke up from their nap not long ago given their hair is not up and much more wild than Gordon expected. 

After finally getting his breathing under control he gives Jay a thankful look and waits a moment before speaking. “Sorry I was- was thinking about Mel...”

“Yeah... I figured as much.” Jay sighs and sits next to Gordon. “Didn’t think you’d be keen to play a video game given you’re from one.” Jay chuckles a little. 

“Kinda didn’t want to bug you? And wanted something mindless... Didn’t help heh.” Gordon sighs. 

“That’s cause mindless makes ya think, gotta like, get involved in the story bro!” Jay nudges his shoulder. “But uh... I dunno if you want to...” Jay rubs the back of their neck. 

“Yeah... I’m admittedly a little weirded out about... Staying... And don’t want Mel to- to stay there too long...”

“Me neither... What- what should we try though?” Jay asks with a frown. 

“I have... A hypothesis?” Gordon says, leading Jay to Mel’s room. 

* * *

The team had filled Mel in on exactly how they knew about her, even if it was like pulling teeth initially. They’d also thankfully given her pain meds and checked the... stump. 

“Well... I think the best bet is to keep moving- wait I just realized something...” Mel frowns. “Shouldn’t the game be paused? I mean supposing Gordon took off the headset if he’s not in a coma or stuck in the void?” 

“An excellent question! I do not know.” Coomer smiles. 

“Cool...” Mel sighs. 

“Whatever, we should keep moving, don’t need those damn boot boys finding us.” Bubby huffs before getting up and marching off, Coomer following after him leaving Tommy and Benrey with Mel. 

“So uh... Your dad’s got it out for lil Benny huh?” Benrey frowns and attempts to brush past Tommy who looks hurt. 

“Whoah hey, uncool, we’re not letting anyone die dude.” Mel grabs at Benrey’s arm and manages to catch him. 

“What do you care?” Benrey almost sneers, but keeps it held back slightly. Angry red bubbles leaving his mouth. 

“I care because I was gonna get  _ you _ all out of here! And I still am! Everyone! You, Tommy, Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Gordon! And if possible anyone else we meet that deserves it!” Mel stamps a HEV suit clad foot down, sweet voice bubbling up that Mel finally catches, a bright yellow of annoyance had slipped out making Mel pause the rest of her tirade. 

“What?” Tommy asks after a pause, Benrey also staring at Mel confused. 

“Huh?” Mel shakes her head after pulling her eyes away from the sweet voice before actually processing what Tommy asked. “I’m gonna get you all out!” 

“No you aren’t.” Benrey frowns, crossing his arms. 

“Uh yeah I am.” Mel crosses her arms in return. 

“Uh you aren’t because like I’m pretty sure  _ your _ dumb human brain is gonna be traumatized or whatever. Or you’re gonna like think it was a dream or something dumb too. You’re dumb. Besides you’re not gonna be able to like, get us out cause we’re code and shit.” 

“Would- would you really get us out if you could?” Tommy asks quietly. 

“Yeah I would.” Mel says firmly, more sweet voice leaving her lips. “And this dumb human mind is good enough at computers to do software engineering as a career so like I’m gonna do code magic shit. You’re gonna be mad impressed dude.” The confident orange from Mel makes Tommy perk up and pull Mel in a hug. 

“...Whatever...” Benrey grumbles and turns away, leaving to catch up to Bubby and Coomer, Bubby now complaining loudly for them to catch up. 

“He um... Just needs to warm up?” Tommy questions, starting to walk forward which Mel follows after realizing they’re going. “I’m- I’m kinda worried about what my dad meant? And why he hasn’t said anything to me?” Tommy rubs his arm as he rambles. 

“I guess... But I don’t know... I’m like partially thinking, and hoping, it was a cover for something? But like... Benrey doesn’t deserve that... And I’m worried about everyone... I don’t like the implications of what ‘convincing’ Gordon and I needed.” Mel sighs.

“My- my dad is pretty um... Intimidating heh... I- I dunno though... He’s pretty mysterious even to me.” Tommy says dejectedly. 

“Hey, I’m sure this’ll work out. Maybe he’ll tell you some stuff soon?” Mel tries to comfort the much taller man. 

“Yeah. I just have to hope so.” Tommy sighs. 

“I’ll hope too.” Mel smiles. “ Oh geez... I hope Jay’s okay...” she sighs, bubbles of worry tumbling out. 

“Jay?” Tommy asks. 

“They’re my housemate. We kinda have a cohabitation deal. But we’ve been friends forever, met super young and just stuck like glue after heh.” Mel would not admit to the blush on her cheeks if asked. 

“That sounds nice heh... When- when we do get out of here... That would be nice...” Tommy sighs. 

“Yeah...” Mel sighs softly and pats Tommy on the back as they catch up to the science team. 

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bubby and Coomer may not be like perfect grandpa's but they're really good when they need to be and I love them a lot.

Mel did not want to think about the alien blood and viscera currently smeared across her face. Mel did not want to think about the smell of the HEV suit after traversing through all those tunnels of mystery liquids. Mel did not want to think about how much more painful the stump would be if not hopped up on pain meds. 

Mel just really didn’t want to think. 

Except the stupid fucking puzzle in front of her was not going to be solved if she didn’t. Not that her brain was in a state to really provide answers to it. 

Tommy seemed to notice and tried to point out helpful hints. As did Coomer. But Mel just stared blankly ahead at the puzzle before sliding down the wall she was leaning against. 

“M-Mel?!” Oh whoops she freaked out Tommy. 

“Sorry, tired, not able to puzzle right now.” She groans, sweet voice bubbling out in a deep navy blue. 

“Deep dark sea means do it without me.” Tommy translates the bubbles. “But Mel, you’ve gotta do it too.” 

“Tiiiiiirrrrrrrred.” Mel whines, idly scratching at the bandages which causes Bubby to kick her shin. “Rude.” She sticks her tongue out. 

“Then get off your ass and figure out how to get around this.” He grouses, trying to get her moving so that she won’t mess up the bandages. 

“Buuuubbbbyyyyy don’t be meeeeeaaaaannnnn.” Mel whines more, partially to annoy Bubby but also the HEV suit’s getting really heavy on her body, or gravity is increasing. Gordon would probably tell her gravity doesn’t do that.

“Mel, we are nearing the cybernetics department! We can get you a new arm soon.” Coomer smiles. 

Mel sighs, glad Benrey decided to go somewhere else for now since he’d probably pick on her for complaining. He’d honestly gotten way worse in his ‘teasing’ since finding out it was Mel in Gordon’s body or just straight up ignoring her. Except when he chose to ignore her it was usually when she needed something from him. 

“Doesn’t make me less tired now though.” She sighs again and slowly stands up with a deep groan. More sweet voice showing her complaint about moving coming out between her lips. “Dunno why I’m able to do that.” She mumbles before looking at the puzzle again and starting to pick her way through it. No one had an answer as to why the sweet voice was a thing now, and she knew that wasn’t going to change but she had a right to complain dammit!

Tommy looks to the older men in their group after Mel had moved away to work on the puzzle. “You think she’s okay?” He asks nervously. 

“No obviously.” Bubby grunts with an eye roll. “Missing an arm, blood loss, stuck in a body that’s not hers. Definitely doesn’t classify as okay.” 

“I- I know...” Tommy sighs sadly. “I wish we- we could help her more.”

“If we get her to the cybernetics department I’m sure things will be much better.” Dr. Coomer says. “A new arm will do wonders.”

“Yeah but... She’s a- a player? This- this isn’t good for her...” Tommy frowns. 

“It’s not but what the fuck do you think we can do about it? Nothing like this has ever happened before and-“ Bubby grouses before the three of them quickly cover their ears as a piercing drone fills the room, trying to locate it’s source they spot Mel.

Mel is mid jump, body frozen in air, as a large creature of some kind also frozen beneath her, teeth already snapping shut on her left leg cutting into the HEV suit, sweet voice which Tommy reads as fear is the source of the noise that’s continuously pouring from Mel’s mouth. 

Another moment passes before suddenly Mel is on the other side of the puzzle, panting hard, eyes wide as the creature snaps down on only air with a growl. She shrieks when Benrey suddenly pops up beside her and looks around the room. 

“Benrey what the fuck!” She pants after catching her breath, stump pressed against the chest plate of the HEV suit obviously having meant to put the hand that was once attached there. 

“Whuh?” He turns to face her before rolling his eyes. “What happened to make the baby scream?” He calls out to the rest of the team, ignoring getting socked in the shoulder by Mel. 

“Give us a moment! We have to solve the fucking puzzle now!” Bubby shouts. 

“Huh?” Benrey looks confused. “Then how’d you do it?” He actually directs the question at Mel. 

“I don’t know? One second a creature was about to chomp my leg off and the next I’m standing here.” She huffs. “Maybe they saw something?” 

Benrey chooses to ignore her instead of responding after only to be pulled out of his thoughts by some sweet voice Mel let loose, bright yellow annoyance toward him. “Ugh you have to stop it, calm down.” He says before spitting blue at her, partially grinning as he does because she doesn’t have enough time to react before it hits her. 

“Benrey!” She groans before huffing and sitting on the floor, though it’s not a surprise to see the tension leaving her as her shoulders slouch. “I don’t like you forcing it on me...” She says quietly after a long moment. 

“Then stop just spitting sweet voice out. Baby can’t even keep the sweet voice quiet.” Benrey shakes his head.

“Well maybe I’d be able to if you taught me.” Mel grouses as she crosses her arms, letting out a hiss of pain after accidentally hitting the stump harder than intended against the metal covering the uninjured arm. “Seriously you’ve been nothing but a jerk since you found out I’m here and not Gordon. And I get that I’m not Gordon but like there’s nothing I can do about it!” She starts getting worked up again as yellow annoyance and red anger bubble out making her bat at the bubbles with her good hand to wave them away but ends up popping them against the metal of the suit. “...Dammit now my arm looks like a hotdog...”

Benrey blinks once before cracking up, raucous laughter that makes Bubby yell at him from the puzzle about making him almost fuck up. Mel is startled initially before slowly joining with a few giggles that move into true laughter, head in her good hand as she laughs. They don’t calm down until the science team finally makes it across to them and even then there’s an occasional snicker. 

“Alright what’s so fucking funny.” Bubby snaps. 

“Had to be there bro.” Benrey grins which makes Bubby’s hand catch fire as he growls. 

“Whoa what?!” Mel gasps at the fire. 

“Uh... Bubby’s always done that Mel.” Tommy frowns slightly, tilting his head making him look not unlike a confused puppy. 

“I must have missed that. Kinda hard not to focus on what’s directly in front of you.” She shakes her head. “Anyway... Did you guys see what happened? I just kinda blinked and I was here.” She frowns. 

“You were mid jump for a long moment.” Coomer says, “Same with the creature.”

“Weird...” Mel frowns. 

“It’s cause you’re not supposed to be here. Don’t have a passport. Lame player baby. Oof!” Benrey backs up after getting a rather weak kick to the stomach from Mel, the only power behind it really coming from the fact the HEV suit’s boot was really heavy. 

“I’m not a baby!” Red and yellow bubbles start pouring out again and when both Mel and Benrey catch sight of them they crack up once again. 

“I- I don’t get what’s funny about Mel being angry and- and annoyed?” Tommy says even more lost now. 

Mel’s only response is to grin and wave her arm in the bubbles to pop them. “Hotdog arm, ketchup and mustard.” She manages to get out before giggling. 

“She’s lost it.” Bubby pinches the bridge of his nose with a long sigh of disappointment. 

* * *

The thing about having a gun for an arm is that your body knows it’s not supposed to have a gun for an arm. And that the gun spun as it was fired which is an odd feeling on one’s elbow. It’s rather hard to mentally accept that, and even harder to not want to vomit at the concept of it literally shooting fingernails. Which is why Mel was grateful for the trash can that Tommy shoved into her arms when she went green around the gills and released some nasty sweet voice in a gross orangey pink color. 

“S-sorry.” She mumbles when she finally feels her stomach stop roiling. 

“It’s okay Mister Freeman- oh right, Mel, the effects of the potions can be intense at times.” Darnold says, not sorry enough in Mel’s opinion. 

“Uh huh...” she grumbles and wipes her mouth off before slowly standing back up. 

“At least now you aren’t defenseless!” Dr. Coomer says with a bright smile. 

“Yeah sure... Gun arm.” Mel grumbles before moving to leave the lab. She just really didn’t want to be in the room anymore, especially with people that weren’t really taking this seriously. 

What is she going to tell Gordon? Sorry I was told to drink a ‘potion’ which tasted like weird Powerade and now you have a gun for an arm that you’re just going to have to live with? She didn’t think that was really going to fly. 

“Yo dumb dumb why you running off on your own?” Benrey says just as Mel bumps into him, somehow he’d gotten ahead of her, as always. 

“Huh? Look I’m just trying to get this shit done dude, at least get Gordon back to his body and junk.” She says as sweet voice in a cyan color bubbles out. 

“Hah try again. Cyan means you’re lyin’.” Benrey grins at her. 

Mel growls, “You don’t even care so what’s the point.” She pushes past him and continues walking forward down the hallway that looks the same as all the rest. 

“What? You chickening out? Need a chicken hat?” Benrey jabs at her side as he walks with her. 

“No.” She growls lowly, swiping his hand away.. 

“Then what does dumb baby player want?” He rolls his eyes. 

“I want to go  _ home _ !” She whips around on her heels. “I want to have  _ my body _ back! I want to not have to explain to Gordon why  _ his _ arm is a gun now!” She snaps as she stalks forward and makes Benrey back up into the wall behind him. 

“Whoa hey-“

“No! You  _ asked _ so I’ll tell you! This feels too  _ fucking _ real! I get that I traded bodies with a game character but I fucking  _ hurt _ ! All over! Every part of me is sore right now, my arm hurts where the soldiers cut it off! Where the fucking  _ gun _ comes out! And I want to help you all but I am at my fucking  _ wits end _ !” Mel’s voice breaks just as the others finally catch up to them, sliding down to the floor as sweet voice showing how miserable she is bubbles up while the tears slide down her cheeks. 

The Science team is silent as Mel sniffles, Tommy comes over and hugs her gently. “We- we should find somewhere to rest for a bit...” he looks to Bubby and Coomer to scout ahead, both nodding and heading up the hall to find a safe room. 

“...” Mel just keeps sniffling, not wanting the waterworks to really come on, but the dam has a crack now and it’s not long before it breaks completely. 

“...Look. You’re not gonna be stuck forever.” Benrey grumbles, not really wanting to comfort the player since they made Gordon disappear. “Just hang in there, or some other dumb motivational cat poster quote that applies.” He scuffs his boot on the tile floor. 

“Yeah it’s gonna be okay Mel... We’re not gonna let anything happen to you... Or um... More things.” Tommy sighs. “You’re our friend too!” 

“No she isn’t.” Benrey glares at Tommy.

“You two were laughing about stuff like two hours ago!” Tommy pouts at Benrey. 

“Yeah but that’s because hotdog arm was funny not cause we’re friends.” Benrey rolls his eyes. 

“Benrey come on that’s not true.” 

“Uh bro it is, I hate the player, end of story.” He crosses his arms and huffs. 

Mel’s sniffles start getting more frequent, drawing both Benrey’s and Tommy’s eyes to her, but before Tommy can ask her anything she tears herself from the hug and starts running down the hallway. 

Tommy is quick to stand up to follow but suddenly Mel blinks out of existence. Gone. A disappearing act for the ages. One Tommy is immediately worried for. Mel may have a weapon now but it’s better to be with at least one of them than none.

“M-Mel?” Tommy looks around, hoping she’ll just pop up, but of course it’s not that easy. “Mel!” He calls out again as if it might change it, but all that succeeds in doing is having Bubby and Coomer start making their way back to them, having heard the worry in Tommy’s call. 

“Yo uh... That is like... Not cool? Cheats? What?” Benrey blinks in surprise. 

“She ran off because you were being mean.” Tommy wheels around to Benrey. 

“Uh no? Cry baby player ran because cry baby.” He tries to defend, but it comes out slightly unsure. 

“Their name is Mel.” Tommy’s frown deepens. “And she was already upset, but you made it worse!”

“Not my fault seriously. Like stupid player is cringe.” 

“You’ve been saying things like that constantly! Putting her down! She’s doing her best!” Tommy stamps his foot as Coomer and Bubby make it closer to them. 

“Uh where’s Mel?” Bubby asks. 

“She just disappeared bro. Poof. Hacks.” Benrey shrugs. 

“She was upset and B-Benrey said some stuff he’s going to ap- apologize for, but when she ran off she- she suddenly vanished! We don’t know where she went.” Tommy says both frustration and nerves getting to him. 

“Hmm... Well we’ll need to look for her.” Coomer shakes his head. “Tommy, you should go with Bubby, backtrack a bit and see if you can find her. Benrey and I will go up ahead.” 

“Wha-“

“Harold-“

“Good luck boys!” Dr. Coomer smiles as he drags Benrey behind him, Benrey too stunned to protest. 

* * *

“Yo doc you can let go like five minutes ago.” Benrey grumbles. 

“No.” Coomer smiles as he keeps a tight grip on Benrey’s wrist. “We’re searching together!”

“Uh yeah, like sure, poggers, but need hand? Want hand back please?”

“I’m sure Mel feels the same.” The statement makes Benrey blink, narrowing his eyes at Coomer. 

“...” Maybe if he keeps silent Coomer will drop it. 

“You know, I don’t really like the idea of a player either.” Coomer’s cheerful continuation makes Benrey groan internally. “Someone who doesn’t get what we go through truly. I mean I’m just a tutorial NPC!” He hums, “But I’ve grown to like Mel a lot!”

“They suck. It’s just a game to them. And we’re gonna be tossed as soon as they’re done.” Benrey growls. 

“Do you have cotton in your ears?” Coomer’s grip tightens as he stops dragging Benrey to stare hard at him. “Mel has literally said multiple times that she is going to try to get us out. Has repeatedly demonstrated she cares about us. And obviously is being affected by this due to the sweet voice and what she said in the hallway about feeling the pain!” Coomer’s furious expression makes Benrey turn away and snort dismissively, trying to cover up the tiny feeling of guilt that’s attempting to make itself bigger. 

“Just saying shit to make us think they care about us.” It’s a weak attempt, but he’s not about to care for the person who made them lose Gordon. Who’s going to kill him when the final battle comes. 

“She literally doesn’t want to kill you. And she hasn’t shot you with that new gun arm. You don’t give her credit.” Coomer frowns. “What is the harm of putting your trust in her? Or at least not being antagonistic to her. For someone who doesn’t want to be the bad guy you certainly paint yourself in that light young man.” And with that Coomer pulls Benrey along again. 

Benrey just watches his feet as they continue to walk. 

Who knew an eldritch otherworldly being could be scolded like a five year old?

… He’s just going to pretend the guilty feeling isn’t growing. 

* * *

Tommy and Bubby started seeing the intense number of colored bubbles well before they heard or saw Mel. When Bubby asks for a translation Tommy just shakes his head, there’s too much to translate and even make sense of. So many emotions and thoughts. 

Mel is curled up in a dark corner of a small room, sobbing hard, the dam has burst and the valley is now flooding below. Tommy is surprised by how quickly Bubby is at her side and tapping her shin with his foot. She looks up but the water works don’t end, an attempt to say something comes out as a bunch of bubbles and a broken noise. 

“I know that you don’t feel good, but this is not a secure place.” Bubby grumbles, looking away from Mel. “So get off your ass. You can at least be miserable in a safer spot.” 

“I- I’m sure we can find some pain meds and stuff Mel.” Tommy tries to assure. 

“I- I- I’m j-just the d-dumb player th-though, y-you should j-just leave me.” She manages to croak out. 

“Do we look like we are about to leave you?” Bubby keeps lightly kicking at her shin. 

“J-just stop...” Mel covers her face up. 

“No.” Bubby responds, giving Tommy a look to say let him handle it. “You’re going to get up. We’re going to find the safe room with some couches and vending machines that Harold and I found. And then you’re going to kick Benrey’s ass for being a dick.”

“He- he’s-“ Mel isn’t able to be coherent with the choked sobs that keep coming up. 

“Seriously why are you so upset about Benrey!?” Bubby frowns, giving up kicking at her shin and just standing over her arms crossed. 

“I heard him! He- he knows I did! And- and- and he won’t trust me! But- but I- I’m not very trustworthy huh? Just- just a player, controlling Gordon... I- I don’t- I don’t know.” She says between sobs. 

“We’re not exactly trustworthy either.” Bubby shrugs. “But since you’re so upset about it and won’t stop reminding us, you obviously want to do something to get us out of the game after, and not listen to Tommy’s dad.”

“I- I’m not going to- to do it. I’m not- not a killer. You- you all are just- so much more.” She’s slowly calming down, Tommy is honestly surprised by how well Bubby is handling this, as well as touched by Mel’s conviction even though they all still have concerns that she’ll change her mind.

“Well duh, I’m the best thing Black Mesa has ever made.” Bubby preens, and there was the over confident narcissistic Bubby again. Tommy is about to jump in before he hears a very faint chuckle from Mel. 

“Y-yeah. You are Bubby.” She gives him a small smile before carefully standing up. 

“Damn right. And you are the best Player. So let’s go kick Benrey’s ass together, so I can stop saying all this mushy shit.” 

Mel just laughs a bit more before pulling Bubby into a hug and letting go before he can protest it. “Thank you.” She wipes at her face. 

“Whatever.” Bubby says, but there’s a look on his face that says he’s glad she’s not a sobbing mess anymore. 

She also pulls Tommy into a tight hug, “Sorry for running off.” 

“It’s alright, I know that sometimes I need space from problems to.” He pats her back gently. 

“Yeah...” She sighs. “Sorry you guys had to come find me.”

“It’s not- not a problem Mel. We’re the science team! We take care of each other.” Tommy smiles. 

Now if they could get Mel and Benrey to not fight they’d really be a team...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hotdog arm...


	12. Chapter 12

Jay had no idea how Gordon expected this to work. Put on the headset and lie down? That’s not going to do anything. It’s just gonna leave marks on Mel’s face from the headset being pressed weird on it. 

He had taken the headset off Mel who had to quote them, ‘laid down to rest my eyes for only a minute’, more times than they could count. Seeing Gordon lay down with the headset on just made Jay more worried about Mel. Especially when Gordon laid down stiff as a board on the bed. 

“Uh... you’re not dead right?” Jay asks with a bit of worry. 

“Jay I haven’t even been here for five minutes.” Gordon huffs, tilting the headset up just enough that Jay is able to see his eyes. 

“Oh right. Poggers. Um... Back to body snatchers test one of... However many.” Jay mumbles under their breath, tugging on their sleeves. 

“Right... Hopefully we can at least meet in the void? If we can, maybe switching bodies will be easier.” Gordon hums, readjusting the headset and settling back down. 

Jay sits quietly for about five minutes before they lean over Gordon curiously. Trying to see any signs of Mel taking their body back. Disappointed when it seems nothing obvious has changed. Gordon lies there for an hour before he sighs deeply and removes the headset. 

“Sorry, I was pretty sure that would work...” Gordon sighs heavily, rubbing at Mel’s face for a moment, green eyes looking anywhere but Jay. 

“Yo like, it’s chill, we try again later bro.” Jay says sitting next to him, gently setting a hand on Gordon’s back. 

“But that means Mel is stuck in there longer.” Gordon groans in frustration, not really thinking as he leans a little more into Jay. 

“W-well, like, yeah. They are- are stuck there. Longer. Not poggers. But, like, they can handle themself? And they know how to play the game. So like. I doubt they are going to suddenly get to the big bad at the end or close to it.” Jay says. “They are good but like, not that good.” Jay gives a small chuckle. 

“Heh, I dunno Mel was leading the charge on most of those puzzles.” Gordon cracks a small smile. “Sometimes my gut instinct was totally wrong. She kinda… Knew what she was doing pretty well.” 

“Figures, they played the fuck outta Portal and Portal 2. And like Professor Layton dear god the puzzle theme would play for days on end.” Jay chuckles. “They fucking love puzzle games.” 

“I see heh… Hey… I’ve been meaning to ask,” Gordon segues suddenly, “You keep referring to Mel with ‘they’ is that what Mel prefers?” Gordon asks out of genuine curiosity, it’s been nagging at him for a bit that whenever Jay refers to Mel they use ‘they’, and honestly he’d been using ’they’ already before finding out Mel was a woman when they met in the void, doesn’t hurt to be sure though.

“Huh? Oh yeah, yeah well, they don’t really care if you call them ‘they’ or ‘she’. Major flexibility there. I just end up saying ’they’ cause I’m a ‘they’ person.” Jay explains. “I think a lot of it is outta like, solidarity toward me, cause boy was that an emotional talk. I was a big chicken but Mel was so chill about everything I dunno why I worried. But they’ve always been like, ‘I dunno just not a guy’ for how they perceive themselves.” 

“Huh… Never thought about it that way.” Gordon ponders this new information. “I mean… I guess I was programmed as a ‘man’ and that means I’ve always used he for myself…” 

“Well your game also came out in like, 1998 initially dude, didn’t have all the same like… Thoughts then as we do now.” Jay shrugs. “The VR port thing like was… Actually I dunno when the VR port was made.” 

“Huh… Wait what year is it?” Gordon looks over at Jay. 

“Uh… 2020 dude.” Jay blinks. 

“W-what?” Gordon looks at them in disbelief, “Wow okay so like- it was 2002? In the game?” 

“Hah, no it’s 200- coulda been any digit from 0-9.” Jay laughs before realizing Gordon’s staring a little too hard at Mel’s blanket. “Whoa hey dude, you with me Gordon?” 

“Huh? Oh- S-sorry just… eighteen years is- is a lot to kinda miss out on?” Gordon frowns. “And like- I know I’m a game character and stuff… But it just- It just hit me that my son is like 4 and would be 22 and just… That just- I- I dunno…” 

“Oh geez… Dude…” Jay frowns before suddenly pulling Gordon in a hug. “I-I didn’t know you had a son and like I dunno if Mel’s gonna be able to pull some serious code magic but like- I’m sure she wouldn’t leave you hanging. They aren’t that kinda person.” Jay rambles as he holds Gordon. “Mel is like the most determined bastard in the world when it comes to things they are trying to accomplish. Like stubborn to a fault ya know? Will not turn back even if it’s getting kinda hairy for making it happen.” 

“I- I trust Mel… And like I don’t even know if- if Joshua is real? Like what is the game and what is like honest to god fact?” Gordon puts a hand over his eyes trying to stop the tears trying to slip away. 

“Gordon… Look man, you’re gonna spiral hard if you keep thinking about this stuff. I- I get it’s big and scary… But- But it’s not something we can do until Mel is able to start pulling open the code. I don’t- I don’t know anything about that junk man… I wish I did but the most I can do is just… Just be here for you…” Jay sighs and lets go of Gordon. 

“…I know.” Gordon sighs as well, rubbing at his borrowed shoulder. “…For- for what it’s worth… I’m glad you’re here.” Gordon gives a weak smile. 

“…Thanks man.” Jay rubs the back of his head. “…Let’s… Let’s take a break from this okay?” 

“Yeah… That- that sounds like a good idea.” Gordon lets out a small sigh as he follows Jay out of the room. 

* * *

  
Bubby had left Tommy with Mel in the break room that he and Coomer had found, initially to go fetch Coomer and Benrey. Once together, everyone is way too quiet for Mel’s taste, but also she really doesn’t feel like being the one to break the silence that has formed. Instead, Mel sits in a corner, far away from everyone else and leans their head against the wall, staring at the gray flecked tile that forms the floor. Benrey was also doing his best to stay away from everyone as well, especially Mel, sitting in his own corner and flicking at the tab on his soda can. Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy end up sitting in the middle, trying to show they are open to their other team members joining them but also quietly catching each other up on what had happened while they were separated. Coomer nods and praises Bubby for handling the situation and thanking Tommy for being supportive as well. Bubby ends up snickering at Coomer’s retelling of events on his end while Tommy is a little shocked, a small frown on his face. 

“N-Not that I don’t agree with- with what you said bu- but um that- that is uh… A lot…” Tommy mumbles. 

“I understand it was, but it certainly needed to be said.” Coomer nods. “We are all having a hard time with getting our footing with having lost Gordon, but exacerbating the situation is not going to help anyone. We must work as a team if we’re going to succeed in this.” 

“Ye-yes but Dr. Coomer… B-Benrey is the final boss. He- He’s probably got something that won’t allow him to- to get out if Mel does something… He’s got a right to be concerned too.” Tommy defends Benrey. 

“We honestly are running fucking blind into this.” Bubby snaps. “We have no idea what will happen to Gordon, Mel, Benrey, or us if we continue to try and finish the game.” He growls and tugs at his hair. “We only have hypotheticals and half baked plans to ‘get out’. Which honestly means nothing at this point.” 

“We can see if Gordon has attempted to contact Mel? That is at least a start towards the possibility of righting the swap of the player and protagonist.” Coomer supplies. 

“I- I think we would know if he had though, Dr. Coomer.” Tommy sighs, flicking at the propeller cap in his lap that he’d gotten from Darnold’s lab. “Mel doesn’t like being in Gordon’s body as- as much as I’m sure Gordon doesn’t like being in theirs. A-and there is that… Shock thing that keeps happening…” Tommy mumbles. 

“Hmmm, indeed.” Coomer frowns and thinks of other angles they could try. 

“Mel did mention your dad or whatever.” Bubby says suddenly. “Any chance we can track his ass down and get some answers?” 

“N-no sorry… My- My dad doesn’t really have a great way of contacting him… Especially if he’s at work, which- which it sounds like he is…” Tommy hunches in on himself, he really wishes there were a way to get his dad to talk to them, but he works in mysterious ways. 

As the three continue to discuss things, Benrey no-clips into the floor and makes it over to Mel’s side of the room, sitting with his back to Mel’s against the wall on the other side of it. They shouldn’t be able to get out here, facing the void like he can, and he can just. Sit. Think over things. Figure out what he might say, if he even would say anything. 

Of course that doesn’t go his way. 

Mel had shifted their position and suddenly pushed through the wall and was now next to him. Great. Totally what he needs right now. 

“Fuck.” Mel says, succinctly summing up Benrey’s opinion of this new development as they pick themselves up from where they tumbled over. 

“Ugh. Can’t you fuckin’ like, go back, rude to encroach on my like, private space.” Benrey gets up to start walking away from Mel. 

“Fuck you.” She frowns and just… Curls up against the same area of wall she’d been against before. Benrey sighs and looks upward into the black void before coming back and standing in front of her. She doesn’t move for a long moment before sending a glare in his direction and then pointedly looking away. Probably deserves that. 

“…Hotdog arm.” He says suddenly causing a confused look to cross Gordon’s face that Mel was borrowing, but there’s no laughter this time. Benrey sighs again, this is going to be annoying huh? “Look I don’t like super hate you or whatever,” he rolls his eyes heavily, “Just don’t think you’re like, awesome.” 

“Gee thanks. That makes me feel great.” Mel hisses, still looking away. “Just like. Fuck off. Do whatever. Become the big bad that you say you don’t want to be but obviously do.” Benrey winces only slightly before putting the mask of indifference he normally wears back up.

“Ouch, bro, hurting my gamer heart here.” 

“Good. Back off and leave me alone.” 

“Uh no cause like, how is dumb baby player expecting to get back on the map?” He shakes his head. 

“Why do you care. Pretty sure only Tommy and maybe,  _ maybe _ Bubby care, and that’s a stretch, Coomer is just… Being nice but he wants Gordon. Really all of you want Gordon. And- And I want Gordon too…” They sigh and curl up tighter, tucking their face in their arms. Benrey huffs out a long breath, comfort is not his strength at all, kinda why he prefers jokes. He ends up sitting about two feet away from Mel, starting to quietly hum and have some bubbles of sweet voice come out, nothing interesting, the normal chill blue as he thinks about what to say next. Mel peeks their face out slightly, but doesn’t make any movement otherwise. 

After a long moment Benrey finally speaks up, “Look… Gordon wasn’t supposed to know about the whole… Not wanting to be the big bad thing. Neither were you.” He frowns and looks away from Mel. “And while it is the truth, I don’t want to be the big bad, I don’t have tons of choice though.” 

“Everyone has some amount of choice.” Mel spits out at him, an angry red sweet voice orb coming out of their mouth. 

“You forget this is a game?” Benrey rolls his eyes. “I might choose I don’t want to be but like, if I don’t someone else will be. And Gordon and you already don’t like me. So like bam, easy choice.” He picks at his boot. “Easier for everyone this way.” 

“No it’s not.” Mel frowns, “It’s not any easier, and like I may not like your shitty antics and the whole getting Gordon’s arm cut off thing, but like my goal is to get out and not leave people behind. And you don’t make it easy to keep that mentality in any way. I want to  _ help _ but you aren’t letting me.” 

“You do get that you being the player means it’s like, hard to trust you right? Like- We fuckin’- We fucking  _ pause and shit _ , we are lines of code, and when the game ends, it’s over man, we don’t have anything else to really like, do. We stop. We restart. We die. We become alive. So why would we expect that? Expect that  _ you _ would try to do something when there’s never been that from anyone else before.” Benrey’s gripping at his helmet when Mel shifts toward him as he falls silent for a moment before speaking again. “ _ You _ can say anything you want and at the end of the game,  _ you _ will get your body back and be able to shut it down and never open it again. You get to walk away. You get to be human and do things that we can only pretend to dream of.” He swipes at his eyes, scowling at his body for showing emotions in anyway, especially to the player. 

“…Kinda jumping the gun on thinking I get out of the game don’t you think?” Mel sighs sadly and looks away from him. “…We have no idea if I can get out. If Gordon can be returned. We are assuming so many things just because of one instance. And that’s- that’s  _ terrifying _ to me. I might be stuck here. I might not get to go home. I might be permanently a part of the game…” She picks at the metal of the HEV suit. 

“And most games don’t- don’t have things like this you know? Like, every other game is just that.  _ A game _ . Lines of code that are all part of a bigger network of patterns and modules that dictate everything a player sees and understands about what happens on the screen. Something that doesn’t have people who are  _ alive _ and have feelings and care about each other. 

“But I saw that with Gordon. How much he cares. How  _ alive _ he is. We spoke for hours when we first met each other without the game interfering with anything. About everything we could think to talk about. From hobbies to the future to ideas about the game. You don’t understand how much that man loves his son. He’d do anything for Joshua, from like regular care stuff to taking a bullet if he had to. I want him to be able to laugh and smile and give Joshua the biggest hug once everything is over.

“And I know you all are alive too… I can see it in the way you interact with each other, how we bicker and fight amongst ourselves… Bubby and Coomer are amazing and deserve to have time to be together. Tommy is wonderful and deserves to spread his joy to the world and be able to not be in such a shitty stressful environment. I want Gordon to be able to completely control his own body and think his own thoughts without me saying stuff and my controllers dictating in his mind what the next move he makes is. And you… You deserve the chance to have your actions be one hundred percent yours Benrey. You deserve to not have to have that fear of the game forcing you to be bad. Not fear the player shutting down and never letting you see the light of day again.

“I might not get it completely. I’m not an AI. I’m not a program that’s forced to be on a script or behave certain ways… But I am  _ human _ . And as a human I can’t stand by when those I’ve grown to care about are hurting, beaten down, and trapped. I want to do everything in my power to make a change for  _ all of you _ . Because I don’t think of any of you as just lines of code for my amusement… Not when I’ve seen how  _ human _ you all are.” 

Mel had tears streaking through the grime on their face, honey brown eyes staring upward to the void as if it were the night sky full of stars instead which the sweet voice that had bubbled out of them as they spoke filled the void with colors of such vivid and intense emotions it almost like a galaxy, a determined and desperate look on their face as they finally fall silent.

Benrey didn’t know how to process it all, staring at the body of the protagonist with the player stuck inside. He desperately wanted to still blame them for everything, cling to that hate. But was that really him? Was he really so against them? Especially after all of what was said just now. 

He wishes Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy could have heard it… 

He scoots closer to Mel, leaning his head on their shoulder making them startle slightly and look toward him confused, he doesn’t speak for a long time, wanting to sort out what he’s going to say next carefully. 

“…I get why you keep saying you’re going to save us now…” He starts slowly. “And- And I guess… I want that. I want a future to look forward to. I want to be able to continue on past the end. I want to not be bad.” He watches the galaxy of colors in front of them. “…You still have to prove it at the end of all this. But… I- I think I believe you now. And I want to- to not be bad, to not be something that I regret. I don’t want to be controlled by the game.” 

“…Then we won’t let that happen.” Mel says, watching the galaxy as well. “We won’t stop fighting it until you all are free. Until nothing can hold you back from being the people you already are and want to grow to be.” Mel says softly, head ending up on Benrey’s. 

“Heh… We’re such saps.” Benrey chuckles to himself. 

“Yeah. But it’s a good thing to be.” Mel gives a small snort. “Very human of you.” 

“Not a human remember? Still very much an alien.” Benrey says, the small smile on his face showing he’s lightly teasing them. 

“…You’re close enough for me.” Mel smiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Yeah! I have a lot of FeelingsTM about this chapter. 
> 
> I’m @themarginalartist over on tumblr if you wanna like, say hi or anything.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey it’s been a little while! Had a lot of thoughts about this chapter that I had to get in order (and distraction of other fics I’m working on lol) but new chapter time!

Mel blinks and finds them staring into the void, not the void of the unused map that she and Benrey had been in during their talk but the one that she and Gordon had met in. Her eyes desperately scan for Gordon, calling out to him in the pitch black, he had to be somewhere nearby, right? He has to be and- There! He’s there! Thank god! They barrel into him holding him in a tight hug which he’s quick to return. 

“Gordon holy fuck I’ve missed you.” Mel laughs as they wipe at their eyes, “I’ve got a bunch of shit to fill you in on.”

“Heh, I’ve missed you too. Wait... What do you mean? I thought the game was paused?” He frowns. 

“No? We’ve been making our way to the Lambda lab and uh... I have some explaining to do...” Mel bites their lip, looking down at Gordon’s arm.

“What do you- Oh. Oh holy fuck.” Gordon’s jaw drops at the mini gun attached to his arm now. 

“I’m so sorry Gordon. We got to the cybernetics department which apparently became Mixology and Darnold was like drink this potion. And no one else was freaked out about untested potion so I just sort of did it, think it was the blood loss if I’m being honest, but like shit man I’m so fuckin’ sorry.” They groan into their hands, a vague feeling of something being wrong with their right hand passes through their mind but they shake it off, there are more important things at the moment.

“Mel. It’s not like you knew... And yeah it’s weird but... I’m okay? Or- well not okay but like, it’s better than bleeding out.” Gordon rests his left hand on their shoulder, giving them a small smile. 

“Heh... So. What happened to you?” Mel asks, tilting her head. 

“Met Jay, they’re a little less like Benrey than I thought.” Gordon snorts. “I can tell you two care a lot about each other. And um... Your hand sorta, wouldn’t work?” He raises his gun arm, “I don’t know if it was me being in your body or if it was because the game affected you too...”

“Heh, we’ve been through a lot of shit together. Hard not to be close. Happily will kick their ass if I need to though.” Mel laughs before frowning, “That’s... not great...” Mel attempts to flex their right hand realizing now a sort of numb sensation that ends at the same spot on their arm where the mini gun attaches to Gordon’s flesh. Nothing moves, fingers loosely curled, not even a twitch.

“Oh geez... I- I’m sure we can fix it! I’m sure it’s just this weird connection we have right now.” Gordon tries to assure Mel. 

“Heh... I hope you’re right... There was also... Also the glitching... But- But I think there’s more at play than just that...” Mel runs their left hand through their hair, blue streak let loose from the ponytail holder framing the left side of their face. 

“You are... Not wrong. Melody Caraddio.” G-man comes out of the darkness making Gordon point the mini gun at him while Mel initially attempts to loop her numb right hand with Gordon’s left before snarling at G-man. 

“Don’t you fucking dare call me that.” Mel glares at him. “How the fuck do you know my full name? Why the fuck did you make us trade bodies!?”

“I know a great many things.” He gives a very unwelcoming smile. “But to answer your other question, I did say you needed... Convincing... Did I not?”

“You convinced us of jack shit.” Gordon snaps. 

“I see. A shame really.” G-man frowns slightly. 

“Leave us alone!” Mel growls. 

“I am afraid I cannot, given... You are now integral to the game.” Mel blanches at his words. “You kept pushing, and now you have them thinking, and they are trying to break free from the script.” G-man’s eyes glow more in the darkness putting Gordon on edge. “And the script has roles to fill.”

“Then let me get out of the game!” Mel makes a fist with her left hand, “If I am able to go back to my body I can change things! I code! I can make it so all of this just stops!” 

“The only way out... Is to finish what you have started.” G-man says ominously before disappearing. 

“Fucker!” Mel shouts into the darkness.

“Great. Just great. So we have to kill Benrey, huh?” Gordon stares at where G-man disappeared.

“I fucking had a heart to heart with him about not killing him! About how he doesn’t have to be the big bad and how I’m getting everyone out!” Mel groans.

“Well... What do we do then?”

“Any way we can make G-Bastard the end boss?” Mel growls.

“I think he’d hand our asses to us.” Gordon raises an eyebrow. 

“Ugh... You’re probably right...” Mel sighs, head leaning against the HEV suit. Suddenly Mel stands up right and frowns. “...How did we both get here?”

“What? Probably I was laying down on your bed with the headset on and we connected again?” Gordon pauses, rubbing at his chin. “But... The last thing I remember was trying to relax with Jay after a failed attempt at that...”

“And I had been talking with Benrey, I just remember watching the colors of the Sweet Voice that apparently your body can do now with him... I don’t remember falling asleep though?” Mel feels a bubble of worry in their chest. 

“We could have both fallen asleep?” Gordon runs his left hand through his hair.

“I distinctly remember being awake before being here... Like I blinked and I was standing over there that way, or whatever direction I came from, you know what I mean.” Mel waves her left hand vaguely at the void. 

“...Now that you mention it... I remember we were watching some cartoon called Steven Universe? I definitely wasn’t asleep...” Gordon starts feeling the same nervous energy that Mel does. 

There’s a muffled noise to their left, something that sounds like gun fire and then shouting. Mel and Gordon stick close to each other and move toward the sound, worry only growing. 

Gordon suddenly gets knocked down, claw marks along the chest plate of the HEV suite appearing and making him hiss. “Shit.”

“Wh-what the fuck is going on?” Mel whispers freaking out, trying to make sure Gordon’s okay.

“I- I don’t know... Something’s wrong...” Gordon frowns.

“Yeah I gathered but what? What are we missing?” Mel stares into his eyes confused. Hissing in pain as a bullet wound appears on their shoulder, blood soaking their orange hoodie.

“I don’t know...”

* * *

— 00110100 01101000 01110010 01110011 —

Four hours before the Lambda Lab...

— 00110100 01101000 01110010 01110011 —

Benrey dragged Mel back inside the map after she fell asleep on his shoulder, dumping her on the couch with at least enough care that they weren’t in an awkward position before joining Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy who looked confused by this development. Parking himself in an open space they had he rubs a hand down his face before catching them staring at him. “Huh?” 

“So uh… Where’d you and Mel go?” Tommy asks, tilting his head. “You both sorta… disappeared.” 

“We were a little concerned given we could not find you both immediately.” Dr. Coomer raises an eyebrow. 

“…I went outside the map to think, Mel ended up clipping through the wall.” 

“…And?” Bubby glares, knowing there’s more than that vague amount of information. “You two were gone for a lot longer than a few minutes.” 

“We talked…” Benrey huffs. 

“Benrey, please, you’ve gotta tell us more than that…” Tommy sighs, crossing his arms. 

“Fiiiiinnnne.” Benrey groans. “We talked about me being the ‘bad guy’ and Mel’s plan on getting us out or whatever. It was sappy and shit. Epic cutscene and junk.” Some sweet voice from blue to green meaning ‘I’m not mean’ coming out between his lips. “I believe ‘em… At least as far as they obviously want to try to help us or whatever. Dunno if that’s possible though. Or if they’ll want to later…” 

“It sounds like you had a good talk though.” Dr. Coomer gives a small smile. “And indeed, it certainly will depend on what happens at the end of the game…” 

“Mel’s going to do it though!” Tommy clasps his hands together, “She’s promised it a lot and she- she doesn’t seem to be someone who- who changes their mind.” 

“Yeah, but we don’t know if the end of the game is going to do anything to us either…” Benrey grumbles, looking away. “Not that I don’t wanna believe in a bright shiny ending too… Just sucks more if we get our hopes up.” 

“It sounds like we’re going to the gallows, fucking get it together assholes.” Bubby grouses. “We have roles to fill, and while this is really weird to talk about, we know what they are, we know what we need to do. If anything Mel seems to know that too. So I say we just keep pushing on it and we’ll come out the other side fine.” 

“But- but what about Gordon?” Tommy wrings his hands together, scratching at the skin of one hand before pulling out the Rubik’s cube to mess with it instead, “He- he’s one of us, and- and he’s trapped in Mel’s body…” 

“We can only hope that by finishing the game and whatever external forces there are, Gordon is wearing the headset at the end.” Dr. Coomer sighs. “I honestly do not know what will happen if that’s not the case, but I doubt anything good if not.” 

“Again you’re all worrying too much!” Bubby snaps, quieting down when Mel shifts on the couch. “We’re going to be fine.” 

“Maybe you guys will…” Benrey mutters under his breath. “Whatever… I hope she gets you all, I don’t really matter much in the end.” 

“That’s not true!” Tommy smacks Benrey’s shoulder, “You matter very much, to me and everyone here!” 

“Yeah but-“ 

“No buts! You said Mel plans on getting us all out, she’s even said that multiple times, that means you too!” Tommy glares. 

“I’m the big bad though! The game requires me to stay here. I don’t think I’m going with you all.” Benrey rubs his shoulder. 

“Well I- I believe in Mel. They promised. And they’re going to do it! Everyone will get out!” Tommy stands up to go get a soda. “So please- please trust Mel guys…” 

“…I believe we should rest as well gentlemen, we haven’t long until the Lambda Lab…” Dr. Coomer sighs. 

— 00110010 01101000 01110010 01110011 —

Two hours before the Lambda Lab...

— 00110010 01101000 01110010 01110011 — 

Benrey had been fairly quiet after the heart to heart talk he and Mel had, giving a lot more assistance to the team whenever they got into trouble with a puzzle or an attack. Generally speaking the whole team’s morale was much better now. Mel leading the charge as much as possible. But the closer they got to the Lambda Labs the more Mel glitched out. 

Everything from jumping ahead a few rooms to missing textures along the HEV suit. It’d been rather disturbing when half of Gordon’s face had become pink and black checkerboard, Mel’s honey brown eye still piercing out from the pattern. But Mel insisted they felt fine, so the team carried on, even if their worry only grew. 

They rescued Sunkist, Mel getting plenty of kisses from Sunkist making them laugh. A cute moment overall, but it doesn’t remove the dread forming in everyone’s stomachs as they get closer to the end of the game. Benrey was the most nervous of them all, given what role he was supposed to play. It was easy to see the tension in the air among them all. 

When they stepped into the threshold of the Lambda Lab and triggered the cutscenes Mel had a determined look set on their face. They were ready for whatever the Lambda Lab threw at them, they had to be, because this was the end… 

A small part of Mel didn’t want the game to end. Mel loved the Science Team, they became closer friends and it’s obvious they care about Gordon and leaving them for any amount of time was going to suck. They wanted to stay with them, they wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to the team. Bubby while he didn’t like to show it certainly cared about them, as did Dr. Coomer who had gotten a little more friendly (which was a bit of a surprise because he already was fairly friendly). Tommy of course was friends with her, keeping positive and helping whenever he could. Benrey had taken a while but Mel felt like they could say that they had worked out their differences and they were friends now. 

Her heart sits like a weight in her chest as she tries to stay focused on what’s to come. Even if it feels like their feet have become lead with every step closer to the end. 

— 00110001 01101000 01110010 —

One hour to the end…

— 00110001 01101000 01110010 —

Gordon and Jay had been watching Steven Universe, something calming after all of the bad thoughts they had dealt with earlier. But now Gordon felt like he needed to be wearing the headset. He couldn’t explain why he felt that way now, but it had settled into his head and he needed to do it soon. When he told Jay they immediately nodded and shut the TV off, following Gordon to Mel’s room to watch him, make sure Gordon doesn’t hurt himself somehow. 

The set up was the same as last time. Gordon with the headset on his head, the controllers in his hands, laying on Mel’s bed a little too stiffly. Jay doesn’t freak out as much this time, especially since it seems the game is calling Gordon. Which is a little spooky, but they’re trying to focus on Gordon and getting Mel back. There’s still a nervous energy in the room though, like something big is going to happen… 

“Gordon?” Jay bites their lip, “Take care of yourself okay?” Gordon peeks out from under the headset, giving a small smile to them. 

“Heh… I will Jay. And you take care of Mel alright? Mel’s probably gonna overwork themselves when they get out trying to get me and the Science Team out of the game.” Gordon chuckles slightly. 

“Yeah, Mel will, don’t worry though, I’ll make sure they take breaks.” Jay grins lightly. “…This sucks, bad vibes, come here.” Jay grumbles before hugging Gordon tight, “Hug the homies. Not the end. I better see you again.” 

“Hah, you will Jay. I promise.” Gordon laughs, hugging Jay back tightly before resetting himself. “I don’t doubt it.” 

“Good luck man.” Jay flashes a peace sign, before settling into Mel’s desk chair. 

“Thanks, Jay.” Gordon smiles before staring into the black void of the headset. It’s black for a long time, Gordon worries his gut feeling is wrong before something changes making him grip the controllers tighter.

A loading screen appears.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They finish the fight with the aliens coming through the portal, it is silent, it is tense, and Mel would rather not make the jump through to Xen but it  _ is _ time. They have to do this. 

“Are you all ready?” Mel asks, standing the closest to the portal. 

“N-no!” Tommy smiles nervously. 

“...Group huddle.” Mel, pulls them all a little away from the portal, it’s clear they are all just as nervous as Mel is. “Look, no matter what, I’m getting you all out.” Mel says seriously, “I mean everyone, it’s going to happen, I promise.”

“We- we believe you Mel.” Tommy nods. 

“Yeah, easy mode boss battle.” Benrey tries to chuckle, but his nervous stare towards the portal gives him away. 

“It’s going to be fine. No matter what happens. We’re going to make it through this.” Mel smiles before pulling away and sprinting at the portal, “Let’s go Science Team!!” They shout before running through. The team runs after them, worried for Mel’s safety and the future, but they didn’t have long to think about that. 

Not with what they saw after coming through the portal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The binary in order is 4hrs, 2hrs, and 1hr. Thought it added a little flair lol.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xen time~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to at least get something out, not as long as I’d like it to be, but we have part 1 of the boss battle at least! 
> 
> (I’ll get part 2 soonish...)
> 
> Also yo! Warning for body horror my dudes! It’s all over this chapter y’all so uhhhh yeah

The science team found it very hard to look at what was in front of them. Not just because of the glaring polygonal patches missing textures that crisscrossed the body (bodies?) of them. The searing orange of the HEV suit combining with bright orange fabric of a hoodie. Brown hair one side slightly curly while the other is straighter. Eyes seem to be scattered across various places on the skin, fabric, and metal but their stares of emerald green, honey brown, and missing texture don’t seem to meet anything. The barrel of the mini gun thankfully not pointed at the island they all stand on, but if it had been, it would have been all too easy to imagine the boulder sized bullets that could break apart the island in an instant. 

It wasn’t hard to look at this strange being because of any of that, it was because of who they were looking at. 

It was Gordon. 

It was Mel.

It was the both of them, mashed together, various eyes appearing to bleed the eye-searing missing texture file magenta and black. The first head on the left, a blue streak in their hair loose from however it is being held under a gray beanie, a similar brown to Gordon’s own framing the other side of their face. It’s a shame to find out what Mel’s face actually looks like in this manner Coomer thinks to himself. The other head, Gordon’s, his hair seemingly longer, pulled back in it’s ponytail still. The mini gun arm stuck in between them, seemingly both of their bodies merging at the shoulder, Mel’s right arm still free looks like a Windows computer blue screen, white text on it being the error messages they have no hope of reading while Gordon’s left looks normal until Coomer’s eyes fall upon the claws made of crowbars that lay over top the normal hand and extend the arm out. Sparkles of glitches and polygonal shapes and pixels jerk off their form, whites, grays, and oranges. 

Coomer would laugh at this coloration from the glitching pixels, since it seems Mel enjoyed similar colors to Gordon’s HEV suit, but that seems quite out of place now with how sombre everyone else is and how they are fairing. Tommy has ended up leaning against a rock to support himself, trying to keep the bile rising in his throat down. Bubby shifts uncomfortably, watching the horrible sight in front of them carefully. Coomer just frowns at this new development. And Benrey- 

Coomer blinks, where is Benrey? He was with them coming out of the portal... He glances around before spotting the guard frowning at the edge of the island they’re on. Coomer comes over to his side. 

“I take it that’s supposed to be you?” Coomer says in a hushed whisper, both in reverence of the supposed ending they had believed in, and for the sake of not waking the horrifying combination of the player and protagonist. 

“Yes? But also no? Like... I still feel something tugging at me to do... Something?” Benrey frowns. “Like... I think I can still do the stuff that was going to happen.” He pauses, focusing on himself and shifting his arm into something more beastly before shifting it back. “See?”

“It may be good that you still are able to...” Coomer says glancing at the terror in front of them. “We shouldn’t dilly-dally this isn’t the end just yet. 

“...Right.” Benrey nods, going to help Tommy as Coomer gets Bubby and they start the trek through Xen, working their way to the final boss chamber. 

It’s after they start moving they hear the monstrosity looming over them ‘wake up’. The island they had luckily left getting Gordon’s crowbar-claws dug deep into the red stone. Mel’s error screen right arm coming up and pressing into her face, which once pulled back reveals a multitude of eyes missing textures, bright pink, and pitch black underneath two honey brown eyes. They let out a horrible noise, compressed audio, blown out microphone, and crunchy static layering over each other as the two heads attempt to possibly talk. 

“Can they- they speak? Can they hear- hear us?” Tommy whispers in a panic. “What happened to them?”

“Dunno. Not part of the script. We gotta keep moving, I don’t think we should stick around long here.” Benrey growls. 

“Fuck. Fuck we have to be able to do something right?” Bubby mutters as Coomer tugs him along. 

“If we have to we will.” Coomer says simply. “Let’s go.”

“Benny boi can still fuck things up. Xen’s still... Calling me the boss for some reason.” Benrey tries to assure. 

“B-b-but they’re our friends!” Tommy whimpers, staring back at Gordon and Mel, the beanie Mel had been wearing had fallen off, letting her hair free, her right arm pulling out her hair tie and then Gordon’s, cyan and orange bands now around the wrist. Their hair seems to merge as do their faces, hair floating behind them and mouths combining into one as they let out a piercing shriek making everyone’s skin crawl and pick up the pace. 

None of the science team says a word as they pick their way across Xen. Benrey at some point had begun transforming more as well, extra arms, void like claws, multiple eyes. And yet somehow he was easier to look at then Gordon and Mel were. Somehow more natural. Probably the lack of missing textures and less metal, Coomer mentally notes. 

The trek doesn’t get any easier when the amalgamation of Gordon and Mel blocks their way forward, heads back to being separated for the moment. Mel’s hand comes down on the island almost directly on top of the Science Team which gets pulled back by Benrey in the nick of time. 

“G̴͔̕ǘ̷̢y̵̝̚s̸̱̽?̶̫̑ ̶͕̐H̷̤͂e̶͝ͅl̵͍̊l̷̡̆o̵̧͝-̸͓̕ ̴̹̈́H̸̜̽e̶̛͔l̵̲̏-̴̛̙H̶̟̽ȩ̵̍ḷ̷̇-̴̪̓H̴͖͝e̵͎͌l̶̗̃-̷̰͝ ̵̬͒H̷͇͌e̴̱̓l̷̆͜l̴̺͘õ̶̫?̵̧̌” [Guys? Hello- Hel-Hel-Hel- Hello?] Mel’s voice calls out underneath the static, head tilting as more glitch particles come off of their form. 

“Don’t answer.” Benrey mumbles, trying to spot an exit for them to take. 

“B̷̳͋ụ̶̔b̸̦͛-̵͔͂b̷͇̉u̴̗̾b̴̞̿-̸̝͐b̵̰͊ü̸̖b̶͉͠b̸̙͋ȳ̷̮?̶̲͆ ̷̯͗D̴̮̒r̶͖̍.̸͂͜ ̷̥͋C̶͕̆ó̵̧ọ̵͛m̷̙̀-̶̮̍C̴͖͑ö̴̮́o̷̗͋m̷̫͂-̸͖̾C̵̠̉o̷͎̚o̶̧͑m̵̩̕ȩ̸̈r̷͎̿?̷͈̈́ ̷͕̄T̶͓̍-̸̤͋t̸̻̆-̵̬͝t̶͇̀-̷͉͒ẗ̵͕o̶̩̓m̶͕̐m̵͚̉y̶̢͝?̸̙̉” [Bub-bub-bubby? Dr. Coom-Coom-Coomer? T-t-t-tommy?] Gordon calls out, “B̵̹̾e̴͍̍n̷̟̂ṛ̴͑ĕ̶͈ÿ̷̱?̵͙͛ ̷͍̽W̴̪͝h̸̨̍e̶͚̐r̴̘̈e̴͙̓ ̸̦͆a̴͇̅r̸̳̀e̴͓̓-̵̻͂ ̷͈̾ä̶̤́r̷̲͘ë̶͍́-̶̧̓ ̴̼̉á̸̻r̴̲͂e̸̯͝ ̴̲͗ẏ̸̮o̶͊͜u̵̪̎?̷̝̌” [Benrey? Where are- are- are you?]

Benrey huffs and grows, scooping up the scientists and leaps forward, trying to get past the amalgamation. They were almost scot free of issues but apparently Gordon had heard them, whipping them around and raising the shared gun arm up to fire. Tommy leaning out of Benrey’s grip and firing in fear of Benrey getting hit. Coomer and Bubby now yelling at Benrey to let them go. Benrey dumps the Science Team on the island mentally apologizing for their rough landing before launching forward and dragging his claws down the front of Gordon’s HEV suit, knocking the amalgam backwards. 

“Ŝ̸̤-̷͍̽s̷̗̊-̸̟͠s̵̗̀h̷͇̅-̴̨̿š̴͚h̶̡̒i̵͓̿t̵̝̃.̵̪̃” [S-s-sh-shit.] Gordon groans, Mel’s head turning toward him worriedly. 

“Ŵ̵̗ḩ̷̋-̷̬̒ẅ̷̲́h̶̼̚ā̵̲ţ̷͐ ̶͍̃t̴͍̉h̴̠̓e̵̳̅ ̴̻͒f̷͓͆-̶̳̐f̸͇͝-̶̼̍f̵̮̈u̶͔̚c̷̬̈́k̷̬̆-̶̯̋ ̸̫̿f̷̫́ȗ̷͙c̴̘͝k̷̻̈́ ̵̯̀ĩ̸͖ṡ̴͕ ̶͐ͅg̸͕̐o̸͇̍i̴̠͘n̷̹͊g̴̹͝ ̸̹̋ó̸͜ǹ̵͍?̷̼̓” [Wh-what the f-f-fuck- fuck is going on?] Mel whispers horrified, but the gun arm raises and aims toward Benrey again all the same. Tommy lets loose a barrage of bullets hitting solidly in Mel’s shoulder before shouting to the team to run, tears glistening in his eyes as the science team tries to put distance between them and the amalgam. Unfortunately it seems that’s the last thing Gordon and Mel want them to do, clawing at the dirt behind them with the crowbar-claws and gaining ground until Benrey wrestles them to the ground, giving a pointed look to Dr. Coomer who drags Bubby and Tommy away. 

Now that Benrey’s touching them he can hear them clearly or at least Mel clearly. 

“Gordon do you think the team is okay?” Mel asks worriedly. 

Whatever response Gordon gave doesn’t come through, only static. The amalgam tries to buck Benrey off of them, but he holds fast. 

“They wouldn’t leave you to fend for yourself, or me, don’t say that...” A pause. “I don’t know! How are we getting injured if we’re here?! This doesn’t make sense!”

The amalgam succeeds in shoving him off and hisses at Benrey. Benrey wracks his brain, trying to figure out something else to distract them before grinning with three different mouths. “Hey Mel! Hot dog arm!” He shouts hoping it will get through. 

“H̵̩͂-̸͉́ḧ̴͓́o̵͙͊t̷̖́-̸̭̋ ̷͕̈h̴̼́o̵̬͋t̸̝̀ ̸͔͌d̶̜͐o̸͙͐g̷̩͊-̶̤͆ ̵̬͋ḣ̶̟-̶̥̓h̶͍̍ĥ̶̢h̴͙͝h̶̗̕h̷̥̄-̵̧̓h̸͓̀ỏ̵ͅt̷̪̂ ̷̭̆d̶͎͑-̵̰͊d̵͓̈́-̷̙͐ḏ̵̚-̸͙͝ḓ̸̚ȍ̷̤g̶̨̽ ̷͓̏a̷͎͐r̶̯͋m̸̛̳?̶̲̀” [H-hot- hot dog- h-hhhhh-hot d-d-d-dog arm?] Mel’s head glitchily parrots back confused, causing Gordon’s head to turn toward them and attempt to question it. Benrey blows out red and yellow sweet voice before running once Mel takes notice of it and starts waving their free arm into it, distracting the amalgam for now. 

He’s quick to catch up to the science team after that. “Distracted them. Mel and Gordon still in there. But we gotta get to the boss chamber, can do more there.” Benrey says scooping the team up and running. 

“How are you going to do more there?” Bubby snaps, annoyed at being picked up and dropped so many times. 

“The boss chamber has the closest con- connection to the code.” Tommy says.

“Yeah it does. How do you know that?” Benrey glances down confused. 

“M-my dad told me.” Tommy frowns, “I- I can help read some of it. But I can’t l-look at it long.”

“See that’s why I’m doing it.” Benrey huffs, leaping to another island as a staticky screech fills the air. “Not from here. Can look at it easier.”

“What?” Tommy is certainly confused now. 

“Bro I’m like- Just- I’m not actually from this game? Like I am and not. Body is, script is, but mind isn’t.” Benrey growls as he picks up the pace. 

“I believe that is the teleporter to the boss chamber!” Coomer says, pointing toward a structure that glows in the distance, interrupting Tommy’s and Bubby’s questions. 

“Yup it is Dr. C.” Benrey grins and picks up the pace again. “Answers later bros, we got a game to win.” 

* * *

G-man watched as the “virus” carried the team towards the portal, the amalgamation of Gordon and Mel gaining ground as the script forces them towards the team. Eyes watching intently as the science team teleports away from them. The form glitches and tugs and smashes together and pulls apart with a painful shriek that he is glad to be unable to hear. 

He looks over at the river of white and green variables and while loops, if-else statements passing by before quickly be replaced by various code blocks. Blue and orange tainting some of the letters and numbers now. The virus and protagonist. Messing up the system, the script, everything that had been carefully put in place by his ‘employers’. 

He just had to hope it would be enough to break it entirely. 

* * *

**Chaos Crew Group Chat**

BlueJay: GUYS I NEED YOU TO COME OVER!!!1! NOW!1!!!1

VictoryPose: Fuck you, no, last time you did this it was because you just got some dumb game. Not falling for this bullshit again

BlueJay: IT’S AN EMERGENCY!!!

UpperCutterSuperStar: Jay? What’s wrong?

TomTom: Let them type... But you’re making me nervous Jay...

BlueJay: MEL IS LIKE POSSESSED BY GORDON AND FUCKING IS GLITCHING AND SHIT AND I CAN’T LOSE MEL YOU NEED TO HELP!!!

VictoryPose: ...I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about. Is this a game thing? Because if it is I am going to set your fucking PS3 on fire.

BlueJay: MEL COULD BE DYING YOU ASSHAT

UpperCutterSuperStar: Whoa, whoa, Jay take a breath. I was already on my way out of the gym, I’ll be there in 5. 

TomTom: I can pick you up Vic, we’ll be there soon Jay. 

VictoryPose: Fine, but I’m bringing the gasoline for Jay’s PS3’s funeral. 

BlueJay: just hurry. please. they aren’t okay...


End file.
